Esteemed Writer László Krasznahorkai Receives the 2025 Nobel Award in Literary Arts

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

The Academy praised the seventy-one-year-old's "compelling and visionary oeuvre that, amidst end-times fear, reaffirms the strength of creative expression."

A Renowned Path of Dystopian Narratives

Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his bleak, pensive novels, which have garnered many awards, such as the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the prestigious Man Booker International Prize.

A number of of his novels, including his novels Satantango and another major work, have been made into feature films.

Initial Success

Hailing in a Hungarian locale in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition with his mid-80s first book his seminal novel, a bleak and captivating representation of a failing rural community.

The work would go on to secure the Man Booker International Prize award in English nearly three decades later, in 2013.

A Unique Prose Technique

Frequently labeled as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate phrases (the twelve chapters of his novel each consist of a single paragraph), apocalyptic and melancholic subjects, and the kind of unwavering force that has led literary experts to draw parallels with Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

Satantango was widely made into a extended motion picture by filmmaker Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a enduring creative partnership.

"He is a significant writer of epic tales in the central European literary tradition that traces back to Franz Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by the absurd and grotesque excess," commented the Nobel chair, leader of the Nobel committee.

He portrayed Krasznahorkai’s prose as having "developed towards … smooth structure with lengthy, intricate phrases devoid of punctuation that has become his signature."

Literary Praise

Susan Sontag has referred to the author as "today's Hungarian master of apocalypse," while the writer W.G. Sebald praised the universality of his outlook.

A handful of Krasznahorkai’s books have been published in the English language. The literary critic James Wood once remarked that his books "circulate like valuable artifacts."

International Inspiration

Krasznahorkai’s career has been shaped by travel as much as by his writing. He first exited the communist his homeland in 1987, staying a year in West Berlin for a grant, and later was inspired from Asia – notably Asian nations – for novels such as a specific work, and his book on China.

While writing War and War, he travelled widely across Europe and lived for a time in Ginsberg's New York apartment, describing the renowned writer's backing as essential to finishing the book.

Krasznahorkai on His Work

Asked how he would explain his writing in an interview, Krasznahorkai said: "Letters; then from letters, words; then from these terms, some brief phrases; then additional phrases that are lengthier, and in the primary exceptionally extended paragraphs, for the span of three and a half decades. Elegance in prose. Enjoyment in darkness."

On audiences encountering his books for the first time, he continued: "If there are people who are new to my works, I would refrain from advising any specific title to explore to them; on the contrary, I’d recommend them to go out, sit down at a location, possibly by the side of a brook, with nothing to do, a clear mind, just being in tranquility like rocks. They will in time come across a person who has encountered my books."

Award Background

Before the announcement, bookmakers had listed the favourites for this annual prize as the Chinese writer, an avant garde from China novelist, and Krasznahorkai himself.

The Nobel Award in Literary Arts has been given on over a hundred previous occasions since 1901. Recent recipients include Ernaux, the musician, Gurnah, Glück, the Austrian and Tokarczuk. The most recent winner was Han Kang, the Korean novelist most famous for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will formally receive the prize medal and document in a event in the month of December in Stockholm.

Updates to come