The Melancholy of Resistance
by László Krasznahorkai

A circus promising to display the stuffed body of the largest whale in the world arrives in an insignificant Hungarian town in the midst of a terminal frost, prompting bizarre rumors. Word spreads that the circus folk have a sinister purpose at hand, and the frightened citizens cling to any manifestation of order they can find -- music, cosmology, fascism. The novel, populated with unforgettable characters -- the evil Mrs. Eszter, plotting her takeover of the town; her weakling husband; and Valuska, our hapless hero with his head in the clouds – will be discussed over two meetings of the World Literature Book Group.

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