A Critique of Messianism

László Krasznahorkai: Satantango

Abstract

This study examines the narrative manifestations of the critique of messianism in László Krasznahorkai’s Satantango. It argues that the novel does not merely thematize the discourse of messianism but exposes it through its rhetorical and narrative structures: both Irimias’s impostor speech and Estike’s sacrifice reveal how misery and hopelessness are continuously reproduced. Irimias’s impostor discourse can be interpreted as a distortion of rhetoric and ethics, while Estike’s story functions as a counterpoint demonstrating the futility of redemption. The use of biblical parallels and Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor highlights a crisis of representational discourse.