The Nobel Prize for Literature, which is awarded not for the work of a lifetime, went in 2025 to the Hungarian novelist and screenwriter László Krasznahorkai. Not all of his novels have been translated into English, but the latest one to be so in 2014 by Ottilie Mulzet should attract attention for its bold significance. Published originally in 2021 and set during the Pandemic, it is one of the most innovative works of fiction you’re likely to come across in a long time. Stay with it, though its 406-page narrative has only one sentence.
At times confusing and exhausting, with a four-word epigraph that signals depression, “Hope is a mistake,” it proves incredibly thought-provoking. The title is Herscht 07769: Florian Herscht’s Bach Novel. It’s named for the protagonist and his zipcode. It’s author is a Jew. Herscht is Florian’s last name, and the zip code 07769 is for the fictional East German town in which he lives, Kana, which is just one last digit off the zip code of the real town of Kahla, 140 miles southwest of Berlin.
Two other facts are worth noting. One, in the most recent elections in the East German districts of Thuringia and Saxony, the far-right neo-Nazi party triumphed. And two, Eisenach in Thuringia was the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, an orphan at a young age, like Florian.
Florian’s story is that of a simple but big, strong, good-hearted adult who is adopted and mentored by a Bach-loving, well-known Nazi thug. Called the Boss, he believes Germans must return to the root of anti-Semitism – namely, kill the Jews. Florian, however, is apolitical, a grown-up “child,” as most see him, who endears himself to the Boss, who exploits him for secret missions. But whom the townsfolk see as a person of caring and gentleness.
Besides cleaning up graffiti on Bach memorials for the Boss, Florian excitedly enrolls in an adult education class to study particle physics, fascinated by a lecture he heard about the Big Bang. But because his brain is underdeveloped or undereducated, he misunderstands the nature of matter and anti-matter and, becoming alarmed at what he sees as the inevitable end of the world, writes to Chancellor Angela Merkel to alert the UN Security Council. His return address is only his last name and zip code.
His other obsession becomes Bach, after the Boss makes him sit through amateur orchestra rehearsals and performances. And, lo! Florian comes to feel that Bach, whose works he intuitively memorizes, is not only perfect but is delivering coded messages to humanity. He writes repeatedly about this new aspect to Mrs. Chancellor.
This central subject is seamlessly woven into a larger narrative that describes the townspeople who are mostly gossipy, caring, selfish, frightened by the influx of Nazis and immigrants, but helpless. They are also prone to rumors about preying wolves on the attack. And so they lock themselves , decaying bodies, into their decaying houses. Only Florian does not seem afraid.
Commas, colons, and semi-colons dot each page, as the narrative’s distinctive style creates a sense of small-village existence. Some people are professionals and have iPhones and laptops – including, eventually, Florian, who learns how to use them. In fact, it’s by way of this new technology that he accidentally discovers something horrific about his Nazi Boss.
The style goes back and forth between third-person point of view and first, repeating words, as in “And when snow fell, although Frau Hopf liked that the best, “I like it here the best when the snow falls …” she tells a neighbor. Krasznahorkai has described his style as no cutting up a novel into “nice little pieces,” no more than you’d stop at bar limits when listening to Bach.
Focusing on the eventual transformation of a Bill Budd innocent into an avenging angel or force of nature, Herscht 07769 ends with gorgeous, despairing prose. And finally a period!
