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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 committee.

The Academy highlighted the seventy-one-year-old's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, amidst apocalyptic fear, reasserts the force of creative expression."

A Legacy of Bleak Writing

Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his bleak, somber novels, which have earned many prizes, including the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the prestigious Man Booker International Prize.

A number of of his works, notably his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been made into feature films.

Initial Success

Hailing in Gyula, Hungary in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition with his mid-80s first book his seminal novel, a dark and mesmerising representation of a disintegrating rural community.

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

An Unconventional Writing Approach

Often described as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is famous for his long, winding prose (the 12 chapters of his novel each comprise a solitary block of text), bleak and somber motifs, and the kind of relentless force that has led literary experts to compare him to literary giants like Kafka.

This work was notably adapted into a lengthy film by filmmaker Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a enduring working relationship.

"Krasznahorkai is a remarkable author of grand narratives in the Central European heritage that includes Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is marked by absurdism and bizarre extremes," commented the Nobel chair, leader of the Nobel panel.

He portrayed Krasznahorkai’s prose as having "developed towards … flowing structure with lengthy, intricate sentences devoid of periods that has become his hallmark."

Literary Praise

The critic Susan Sontag has referred to the author as "the modern Hungarian expert of the apocalyptic," while Sebald praised the universality of his vision.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s novels have been rendered in the English language. The critic James Wood once remarked that his books "get passed around like valuable artifacts."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s career has been influenced by exploration as much as by his writing. He first exited socialist his homeland in 1987, residing a twelve months in West Berlin for a grant, and later found inspiration from east Asia – especially Mongolia and China – for novels such as one of his titles, and another novel.

While writing this novel, he journeyed extensively across Europe and resided temporarily in Ginsberg's New York residence, noting the famous poet's assistance as essential to finishing the book.

Krasznahorkai on His Work

Inquired how he would characterize his work in an interview, Krasznahorkai answered: "Characters; then from letters, vocabulary; then from these words, some concise lines; then more sentences that are more extended, and in the primary very long phrases, for the span of three and a half decades. Elegance in prose. Fun in despair."

On readers discovering his books for the first time, he added: "Should there be individuals who are new to my books, I couldn’t recommend anything to explore to them; instead, I’d advise them to step out, settle at a location, possibly by the edge of a stream, with nothing to do, no thoughts, just being in silence like rocks. They will sooner or later come across a person who has encountered my novels."

Award Background

Ahead of the reveal, oddsmakers had pegged the favourites for this year’s prize as Can Xue, an innovative Chinese novelist, and Krasznahorkai.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded on over a hundred previous occasions since the early 20th century. Latest recipients are Annie Ernaux, Dylan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, the poet, Handke and the Polish author. The previous year's recipient was Han Kang, the from South Korea writer renowned for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will formally be presented with the award and certificate in a event in December in the Swedish capital.

Additional details forthcoming