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The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been awarded to from Hungary author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the Swedish Academy.

The Committee commended the seventy-one-year-old's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, amidst end-times terror, reasserts the power of art."

An Esteemed Career of Dystopian Writing

Krasznahorkai is renowned for his dark, pensive novels, which have garnered many accolades, such as the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his works, among them his titles Satantango and another major work, have been adapted into movies.

Early Beginnings

Originating in a Hungarian locale in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first rose to prominence with his mid-80s initial work Satantango, a dark and hypnotic representation of a collapsing countryside settlement.

The novel would later earn the Man Booker International Prize award in English decades after, in 2013.

A Unique Writing Approach

Commonly referred to as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is famous for his lengthy, intricate prose (the twelve chapters of his novel each are a single paragraph), bleak and pensive subjects, and the kind of relentless force that has led literary experts to compare him to literary giants like Kafka.

This work was widely transformed into a lengthy film by cinematic artist the director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long working relationship.

"The author is a significant author of grand narratives in the central European literary tradition that traces back to Franz Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and bizarre extremes," said Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel jury.

He described Krasznahorkai’s writing as having "progressed to … flowing structure with lengthy, intricate sentences lacking periods that has become his trademark."

Expert Opinions

The critic Susan Sontag has described the author as "the modern Hungarian genius of end-times," while the writer W.G. Sebald commended the wide appeal of his vision.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s books have been rendered in the English language. The literary critic James Wood once remarked that his books "circulate like rare currency."

International Inspiration

Krasznahorkai’s career has been molded by journeys as much as by language. He first departed from the communist the country in 1987, staying a period in Berlin for a fellowship, and later drew inspiration from Asia – especially China and Mongolia – for novels such as a specific work, and another novel.

While working on War and War, he travelled widely across Europe and lived for a time in Allen Ginsberg’s New York residence, noting the famous Beat poet's backing as crucial to finalizing the novel.

Author's Perspective

Inquired how he would characterize his work in an interview, Krasznahorkai said: "Characters; then from these characters, words; then from these words, some short sentences; then additional phrases that are longer, and in the primary exceptionally extended sentences, for the duration of three and a half decades. Elegance in language. Enjoyment in despair."

On readers encountering his work for the first time, he continued: "If there are individuals who have not yet read my works, I couldn’t recommend any specific title to peruse to them; on the contrary, I’d suggest them to go out, sit down somewhere, perhaps by the banks of a creek, with no obligations, nothing to think about, just being in quiet like rocks. They will sooner or later meet an individual who has already read my novels."

Nobel Prize Context

Prior to the declaration, bookmakers had ranked the frontrunners for this year's prize as Can Xue, an experimental Chinese writer, and the Hungarian.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded on one hundred seventeen prior instances since 1901. Latest winners have included Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Glück, the Austrian and Tokarczuk. The previous year's recipient was Han Kang, the Korean novelist most famous for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will officially accept the award and diploma in a ceremony in the month of December in Stockholm, Sweden.

Updates to come