László Krasznahorkai Wins the Nobel Nobel Award in Literature

The world-renowned Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2025 has been granted to from Hungary author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the Swedish Academy.

The Jury highlighted the 71-year-old's "gripping and imaginative oeuvre that, amidst cataclysmic fear, reasserts the power of creative expression."

A Renowned Path of Apocalyptic Narratives

Krasznahorkai is renowned for his bleak, somber novels, which have garnered several awards, such as the recent National Book Award for literature in translation and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his books, among them his fictional works Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been turned into feature films.

Early Beginnings

Born in a Hungarian locale in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition with his 1985 debut novel his seminal novel, a dark and captivating representation of a disintegrating countryside settlement.

The work would go on to secure the Man Booker International Prize award in English many years later, in the 2010s.

An Unconventional Literary Style

Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate sentences (the twelve chapters of his novel each consist of a solitary block of text), apocalyptic and somber themes, and the kind of relentless intensity that has led reviewers to draw parallels with Kafka, Melville, and Gogol.

The novel was notably made into a seven-hour motion picture by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long artistic collaboration.

"He is a great writer of epic tales in the central European heritage that extends through Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is defined by the absurd and grotesque excess," commented the committee chair, leader of the Nobel jury.

He described Krasznahorkai’s writing as having "developed towards … smooth structure with lengthy, intricate sentences devoid of punctuation that has become his hallmark."

Literary Praise

Susan Sontag has called the author as "the modern from Hungary master of apocalypse," while Sebald commended the broad relevance of his perspective.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s books have been published in the English language. The literary critic James Wood once wrote that his books "are shared like precious items."

Global Influences

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been shaped by exploration as much as by language. He first exited communist the country in 1987, staying a year in the city for a fellowship, and later found inspiration from east Asia – especially Mongolia and China – for works such as one of his titles, and another novel.

While writing this novel, he explored across the continent and stayed in the legendary poet's New York apartment, stating the famous poet's support as crucial to finishing the novel.

Krasznahorkai on His Work

Questioned how he would characterize his writing in an discussion, Krasznahorkai said: "Letters; then from these characters, words; then from these words, some short sentences; then further lines that are longer, and in the primary very long paragraphs, for the period of three and a half decades. Beauty in writing. Fun in hell."

On audiences finding his books for the first time, he added: "If there are readers who have not yet read my books, I couldn’t recommend a particular book to explore to them; rather, I’d suggest them to step out, rest at a location, perhaps by the banks of a creek, with nothing to do, no thoughts, just being in quiet like boulders. They will sooner or later encounter someone who has already read my books."

Nobel Prize Context

Ahead of the reveal, bookmakers had listed the frontrunners for this year’s prize as an avant-garde author, an experimental Chinese novelist, and Krasznahorkai.

The Nobel Honor in Literature has been given on one hundred seventeen previous occasions since 1901. Current recipients have included Annie Ernaux, the musician, Abdulrazak Gurnah, the poet, the Austrian and the Polish author. The most recent recipient was Han Kang, the Korean writer best known for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will formally be presented with the prize medal and certificate in a event in winter in the Swedish capital.

Additional details forthcoming