Esteemed Writer László Krasznahorkai Wins the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature
The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been bestowed upon the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the committee.
The Jury praised the seventy-one-year-old's "powerful and prophetic oeuvre that, within end-times dread, reasserts the strength of creative expression."
A Legacy of Dystopian Fiction
Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his bleak, somber books, which have earned numerous accolades, such as the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.
A number of of his novels, including his fictional works Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been turned into movies.
Early Beginnings
Born in the Hungarian town of Gyula in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his 1985 initial work Satantango, a dark and mesmerising depiction of a failing rural community.
The novel would go on to secure the Man Booker International Prize honor in English many years later, in the 2010s.
An Unconventional Literary Style
Commonly referred to as avant-garde, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his extended, meandering sentences (the dozen sections of Satantango each consist of a solitary block of text), bleak and melancholic motifs, and the kind of relentless power that has led literary experts to draw parallels with literary giants like Kafka.
Satantango was widely transformed into a lengthy movie by filmmaker Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy working relationship.
"Krasznahorkai is a great writer of epic tales in the central European tradition that traces back to Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is characterised by the absurd and bizarre extremes," said Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel jury.
He characterized Krasznahorkai’s prose as having "progressed to … flowing syntax with lengthy, intricate phrases devoid of full stops that has become his hallmark."
Expert Opinions
Sontag has described the author as "today's from Hungary expert of the apocalyptic," while the writer W.G. Sebald commended the wide appeal of his outlook.
A handful of Krasznahorkai’s novels have been translated into the English language. The reviewer James Wood once noted that his books "are shared like rare currency."
Global Influences
Krasznahorkai’s literary path has been influenced by journeys as much as by his writing. He first exited socialist Hungary in the late 80s, residing a period in Berlin for a scholarship, and later found inspiration from Asia – especially Asian nations – for novels such as The Prisoner of Urga, and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens.
While working on War and War, he explored across Europe and stayed in Ginsberg's New York apartment, describing the renowned writer's backing as crucial to completing the novel.
Writer's Own Words
Questioned how he would describe his work in an conversation, Krasznahorkai said: "Letters; then from letters, vocabulary; then from these terms, some short sentences; then additional phrases that are more extended, and in the chief very long paragraphs, for the period of three and a half decades. Beauty in writing. Fun in despair."
On audiences discovering his writing for the first time, he noted: "For any individuals who have not yet read my novels, I would refrain from advising a particular book to read to them; on the contrary, I’d advise them to venture outside, settle at a location, perhaps by the edge of a stream, with no obligations, nothing to think about, just staying in silence like stones. They will in time meet an individual who has previously read my novels."
Nobel Prize Context
Before the announcement, bookmakers had listed the top contenders for this year's honor as Can Xue, an innovative Chinese writer, and Krasznahorkai himself.
The Nobel Honor in Writing has been given on over a hundred prior instances since the early 20th century. Latest laureates are Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Gurnah, the poet, Handke and the Polish author. The previous year's winner was Han Kang, the from South Korea author best known for her acclaimed novel.
Krasznahorkai will officially receive the prize medal and certificate in a function in the month of December in the Swedish capital.
More to follow
