048-049 LÁSZLÓ KRASZNAHORKAI / MELANCHOLY RESISTANCE

‘HE IS AN ABERRATION, I’LL SAY IT SLOWLY SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT, AN AB-BER-RAY-SHUN, WHO— & HE KNOWS THIS AS WELL AS I DO— HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OR POWER. THE TITLE OF PRINCE,’ THE VOICE RANG WITH CONTEMPT, ‘WAS ONE I BESTOWED ON HIM AS A BUSINESS DECISION! TELL HIM THAT I INVENTED HIM! & THAT OUT OF THE 2 OF US, I ALONE HAVE THE FAINTEST CONCEPTION OF THE WORLD ABOUT WHICH HE PILES LIE UPON OUTRAGEOUS LIE, WHOSE MOB HE AGITATES!’ ‘HE SAYS HIS PUBLIC IS OUT THERE WAITING’, CAME THE ANSWER, ‘& THEY ARE GROWING IMPATIENT. TO THEM HE IS THE PRINCE’.

THE WEARY TONE OF THAT VOICE, THE EARLY THUNDER OF WHICH HAD BEEN REDUCED TO A GROAN OF RESIGNATION, LEFT HIM IN NO DOUBT THAT THE DIRECTOR HAD SUFFERED A DEFEAT, & SINCE VALUSKA KNEW THE CAUSE IN WHICH HE HAD BEEN DEFEATED & UNDERSTOOD THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THE MAKER OF THAT CHIRRUPING SOUND THAT THE OUT-MANOEUVRED MASTER WAS WANTING, AT ALL COSTS, TO FRUSTRATE, SOMETHING THAT WOULD NOW INEVITABLY FOLLOW WITH AN INSTANT & BLINDING CLARITY, HE FELT VERY MUCH LIKE A CAT STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, PARALYSED BY THE HEADLIGHTS OF AN ONRUSHING VEHICLE: HE COULDN’T MOVE A MUSCLE BUT STARED, NUMB & HELPLESS, AT THE INNER DOOR OF THE FREEZING TRUCK. ‘HE SAYS,’ THE VOICE OF THE INTERPRETER CONTINUED, ‘THERE WILL BE NO CONDITIONS. THE DIRECTOR GETS THE MONEY, THE PRINCE GETS HIS FOLLOWERS. EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE. THERE’S NO POINT ARGUING.’ ‘IF HIS RABBLE DESTROY THE TOWNS THEY PASS THROUGH,’ THE DIRECTOR ARGUED, EXHAUSTED, ‘THERE WILL BE NOWHERE LEFT FOR HIM TO GO AFTER A WHILE. TRANSLATE THAT.’ ‘HE SAYS,’ CAME THE IMMEDIATE ANSWER, ‘THAT HE HAS NO WISH TO GO ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME. IT IS ALWAYS THE DIRECTOR WHO CARRIES HIM. &, HE SAYS, HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN ‘AFTER A WHILE’. THERE´S NO TIME LEFT EVEN NOW. UNLIKE THE DIRECTOR, HE BELIEVES THAT EVERYTHING HAS ITS OWN INDIVIDUAL SIGNIFICANCE. THE SIGNIFICANCE IS IN THE ELEMENTS NOT IN THE WHOLE AS THE DIRECTOR IMAGINES.’ ‘I DON´T IMAGINE ANYTHING,’ THE DIRECTOR ANSWERED AFTER A LONG SILENCE. ‘WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT IF HE ROUSES THE CROWD RATHER THAN CALMING IT, THEY WILL TEAR THIS TOWN TO PIECES.’ ‘A TOWN BUILT ON LIES WILL CONTINUE TO BE A TOWN BUILT ON LIES,’ THE FACTOTUM SPOKE FOR THE MORE AGITATED CHIRRUPING. ‘WHAT THEY DO & WHAT THEY WILL DO ARE BOTH BASED ON LIES & FALSE PRIDE. WHAT THEY THINK & WHAT THEY WILL THINK ARE EQUALLY RIDICULOUS. THEY THINK BECAUSE THEY ARE FRIGHTENED. FEAR IS IGNORANCE. HE SAYS HE LIKES IT WHEN THINGS FALL TO PIECES. RUIN COMPRISES EVERY FORM OF MAKING: LIES & FALSE PRIDE ARE LIKE OXYGEN IN THE ICE. MAKING IS HALF: RUIN IS EVERYTHING.

LÁSZLÓ KRASZNAHORKAI / THE MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE
[QUARTET BOOKS / 1998 / TRANSLATED BY GEORGE SZIRTES, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1989 BY MAGVETO PUBLISHING]