Another strange story - told in a single 76-page sentence - by a Hungarian writer

Like most books from the estimable New Directions and like most works in English by Eastern European writers (Hungarian in this case), the 3rd story in the Laszlo Krasznahorkai triptych, The Lost Wolfe (2009) is an adventure in narrative technique. The 76-page story (granted, the pages are small in this pocket-sized publication, so probably translates to about 40 pp) is told in a single sentence with no paragraph or space breaks. It's not hard to follow, however, and here's where it gets you: The narrator, living in Germany, probably Berlin, in a "mixed" neighborhood, that is, w/ many Kurdish and Turkish residents, has little or no career or occupation. He spends a large part of each day in a cafe whose name translates as the Piggy Bank, where he nurses one or two beers and, sometimes, speaks to the Hungarian bartender. This entire story is told to the bartender. The narrator explains that he at one time was a prominent philosopher but has not been able to write or teach for many years; a letter arrives inviting him to speak at a conference in Spain. After some trepidation - was it really meant for him? - he accepts the invitation. In Spain, with the aid of supplied driver and translator, he embarks on some research - that was part of the deal on the grant - which leads him to try to find the man who allegedly shot and killed the "last wolf" in this region of Spain. In doing so, he learns that many of the claimants to this title are dubious, and in fact there may still be wolves in the forests of this remote Spanish region. That's it! Aside from the narrative tightrope-walking, there's not a whole lot to recommend this story - which does make a strange closed set w/ the two other stories in this volume, both of which are about forest wardens and game keepers, for some reason - a reason that I cannot fathom.