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

The Jury highlighted the seventy-one-year-old's "gripping and imaginative body of work that, within end-times terror, confirms the power of art."

A Renowned Path of Apocalyptic Narratives

Krasznahorkai is known for his bleak, melancholic works, which have earned many accolades, including the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his works, including his fictional works his debut and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been made into cinematic works.

Debut Novel

Hailing in a Hungarian locale in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first rose to prominence with his 1985 first book his seminal novel, a grim and mesmerising depiction of a disintegrating rural community.

The novel would later earn the Man Booker International Prize recognition in English nearly three decades later, in 2013.

A Distinctive Literary Style

Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is known for his long, winding prose (the 12 chapters of the book each are a single paragraph), apocalyptic and melancholic motifs, and the kind of relentless intensity that has led literary experts to compare him to literary giants like Kafka.

Satantango was notably transformed into a extended movie by cinematic artist Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy creative partnership.

"He is a great writer of epic tales in the European heritage that includes Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is marked by the absurd and grotesque exaggeration," said Anders Olsson, leader of the Nobel panel.

He characterized Krasznahorkai’s writing as having "evolved into … smooth language with long, winding lines lacking periods that has become his hallmark."

Expert Opinions

The critic Susan Sontag has referred to the author as "the contemporary Hungarian master of apocalypse," while WG Sebald commended the universality of his vision.

A handful of Krasznahorkai’s works have been rendered in English translation. The reviewer James Wood once remarked that his books "are shared like rare currency."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been influenced by journeys as much as by his writing. He first departed from the communist the country in 1987, staying a year in the city for a scholarship, and later was inspired from Eastern Asia – notably Mongolia and China – for books such as The Prisoner of Urga, and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens.

While writing War and War, he explored across European nations and lived for a time in Allen Ginsberg’s New York residence, stating the famous Beat poet's support as crucial to finalizing the book.

Writer's Own Words

Asked how he would describe his writing in an discussion, Krasznahorkai said: "Characters; then from these characters, words; then from these words, some brief phrases; then further lines that are longer, and in the primary extremely lengthy sentences, for the duration of decades. Beauty in writing. Enjoyment in hell."

On readers encountering his books for the first time, he added: "For any people who are new to my books, I couldn’t recommend anything to peruse to them; instead, I’d suggest them to venture outside, settle at a location, possibly by the banks of a creek, with no tasks, no thoughts, just being in silence like rocks. They will sooner or later come across a person who has encountered my works."

Award Background

Ahead of the reveal, bookmakers had pegged the top contenders for this year's honor as Can Xue, an innovative Chinese writer, and Krasznahorkai.

The Nobel Award in Literature has been given on one hundred seventeen previous occasions since the early 20th century. Latest winners are the French author, the musician, Gurnah, Glück, Peter Handke and Tokarczuk. Last year’s winner was Han Kang, the from South Korea novelist renowned for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will officially receive the prize medal and document in a event in winter in the Swedish capital.

Additional details forthcoming