🔗 Share this article

The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2025 has been bestowed upon Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as announced by the Nobel awarding body.

The Committee praised the 71-year-old's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, amidst cataclysmic fear, confirms the strength of art."

A Legacy of Dystopian Writing

Krasznahorkai is renowned for his dark, melancholic novels, which have garnered several awards, for instance the 2019 National Book Award for translated literature and the prestigious Man Booker International Prize.

A number of of his books, notably his fictional works Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been turned into feature films.

Initial Success

Originating in Gyula, Hungary in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his mid-80s debut novel Satantango, a grim and captivating portrayal of a disintegrating countryside settlement.

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

A Distinctive Prose Technique

Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate phrases (the dozen sections of his novel each comprise a solitary block of text), apocalyptic and pensive motifs, and the kind of persistent force that has led reviewers to liken him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

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

"The author is a significant author of grand narratives in the European literary tradition that includes Franz Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is defined by absurdism and grotesque exaggeration," commented the Nobel chair, chair of the Nobel committee.

He portrayed Krasznahorkai’s style as having "progressed to … continuous syntax with extended, meandering phrases lacking punctuation that has become his hallmark."

Literary Praise

The critic Susan Sontag has called the author as "the contemporary Hungarian genius of the apocalyptic," while WG Sebald commended the universality of his perspective.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s books have been published in English translation. The critic James Wood once remarked that his books "get passed around like precious items."

Global Influences

Krasznahorkai’s career has been shaped by travel as much as by his writing. He first exited socialist the country in 1987, residing a twelve months in West Berlin for a fellowship, and later found inspiration from Asia – particularly Mongolia and China – for books such as one of his titles, and his book on China.

While writing War and War, he travelled widely across European nations and lived for a time in the legendary poet's New York apartment, describing the renowned Beat poet's backing as essential to completing the book.

Author's Perspective

Inquired how he would describe his writing in an interview, Krasznahorkai said: "Letters; then from letters, words; then from these terms, some concise lines; then further lines that are more extended, and in the primary exceptionally extended sentences, for the span of 35 years. Elegance in prose. Fun in hell."

On fans discovering his writing for the initial encounter, he added: "Should there be readers who are new to my novels, I couldn’t recommend anything to explore to them; rather, I’d advise them to venture outside, settle at a location, perhaps by the side of a brook, with no obligations, no thoughts, just remaining in quiet like boulders. They will sooner or later encounter a person who has previously read my books."

Nobel Prize Context

Ahead of the reveal, betting agencies had pegged the top contenders for this year's honor as the Chinese writer, an experimental Chinese author, and the Hungarian.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded on 117 prior instances since 1901. Current laureates are Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Gurnah, the poet, the Austrian and the Polish author. The previous year's recipient was the South Korean writer, the Korean writer best known for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will ceremonially receive the medal and document in a event in winter in Stockholm, Sweden.

More to follow