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The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been granted to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the Nobel awarding body.

The Academy commended the 71-year-old's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, in the midst of apocalyptic fear, confirms the power of the arts."

An Esteemed Career of Dystopian Writing

Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, melancholic novels, which have garnered many awards, such as the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his books, notably his fictional works Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been turned into movies.

Debut Novel

Hailing in the Hungarian town of Gyula in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition with his mid-80s debut novel Satantango, a grim and mesmerising depiction of a collapsing countryside settlement.

The novel would eventually win the Man Booker International Prize honor in the English language decades after, in the 2010s.

A Unique Prose Technique

Frequently labeled as avant-garde, Krasznahorkai is famous for his extended, meandering sentences (the 12 chapters of Satantango each are a one paragraph), dystopian and melancholic themes, and the kind of unwavering intensity that has led reviewers to draw parallels with literary giants like Kafka.

Satantango was famously transformed into a lengthy movie by filmmaker the director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long creative partnership.

"Krasznahorkai is a great writer of epic tales in the Central European tradition that includes Kafka to Bernhard, and is defined by the absurd and grotesque excess," said the committee chair, chair of the Nobel jury.

He portrayed Krasznahorkai’s style as having "progressed to … flowing language with long, winding sentences lacking full stops that has become his trademark."

Literary Praise

Sontag has described the author as "the contemporary from Hungary genius of end-times," while the writer W.G. Sebald praised the universality of his perspective.

A handful of Krasznahorkai’s books have been published in English translation. The critic James Wood once wrote that his books "get passed around like valuable artifacts."

Global Influences

Krasznahorkai’s literary path has been molded by journeys as much as by his writing. He first exited communist his homeland in 1987, staying a period in Berlin for a grant, and later drew inspiration from Eastern Asia – particularly Asian nations – for books such as The Prisoner of Urga, and another novel.

While developing War and War, he travelled widely across the continent and stayed in Ginsberg's New York residence, stating the legendary Beat poet's backing as essential to finalizing the novel.

Writer's Own Words

Inquired how he would characterize his work in an interview, Krasznahorkai responded: "Letters; then from letters, words; then from these terms, some concise lines; then further lines that are more extended, and in the main extremely lengthy paragraphs, for the duration of 35 years. Elegance in prose. Fun in darkness."

On audiences discovering his work for the first time, he noted: "For any individuals who have not yet read my books, I would not suggest anything to peruse to them; rather, I’d suggest them to step out, rest somewhere, maybe by the side of a brook, with no obligations, no thoughts, just remaining in tranquility like rocks. They will eventually encounter a person who has encountered my works."

Nobel Prize Context

Prior to the declaration, oddsmakers had pegged the favourites for this year’s honor as an avant-garde author, an avant garde Chinese novelist, and the Hungarian.

The Nobel Award in Writing has been presented on one hundred seventeen past events since the early 20th century. Current winners are Annie Ernaux, Dylan, Gurnah, Glück, the Austrian and the Polish author. The previous year's honoree was Han Kang, the from South Korea novelist renowned for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will formally accept the medal and diploma in a function in December in Stockholm.

Updates to come