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The coveted Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as announced by the Nobel awarding body.

The Committee praised the 71-year-old's "powerful and prophetic oeuvre that, amidst apocalyptic fear, confirms the power of art."

An Esteemed Career of Bleak Fiction

Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, pensive works, which have earned numerous awards, including the 2019 National Book Award for international writing and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Several of his works, notably his novels his debut and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into cinematic works.

Debut Novel

Originating in a Hungarian locale in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his 1985 initial work Satantango, a dark and mesmerising representation of a failing village society.

The work would later win the Man Booker International Prize award in the English language decades after, in 2013.

A Distinctive Prose Technique

Often described as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his extended, meandering prose (the 12 chapters of his novel each are a solitary block of text), apocalyptic and somber themes, and the kind of persistent intensity that has led critics to draw parallels with Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

The novel was notably transformed into a extended film by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy artistic collaboration.

"He is a great writer of epic tales in the central European tradition that extends through Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is marked by absurdism and grotesque excess," stated Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel jury.

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

Critical Acclaim

The critic Susan Sontag has called the author as "today's Hungarian expert of end-times," while WG Sebald commended the broad relevance of his vision.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s books have been translated into English. The reviewer James Wood once noted that his books "get passed around like valuable artifacts."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been influenced by exploration as much as by language. He first departed from socialist his homeland in 1987, staying a period in West Berlin for a grant, and later found inspiration from Asia – notably Asian nations – for books such as one of his titles, and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens.

While working on War and War, he explored across the continent and lived for a time in the legendary poet's New York home, describing the legendary poet's backing as vital to finishing the work.

Krasznahorkai on His Work

Inquired how he would explain his writing in an interview, Krasznahorkai answered: "Letters; then from letters, words; then from these terms, some short sentences; then additional phrases that are lengthier, and in the main extremely lengthy sentences, for the duration of decades. Beauty in writing. Fun in hell."

On readers discovering his work for the initial encounter, he noted: "For any individuals who are new to my works, I couldn’t recommend any specific title to peruse to them; on the contrary, I’d advise them to go out, rest at a location, possibly by the edge of a stream, with nothing to do, a clear mind, just remaining in tranquility like boulders. They will eventually encounter someone who has previously read my works."

Nobel Prize Context

Ahead of the reveal, oddsmakers had ranked the favourites for this annual honor as the Chinese writer, an innovative Chinese author, and Krasznahorkai.

The Nobel Honor in Literary Arts has been awarded on 117 prior instances since 1901. Current winners have included Annie Ernaux, Dylan, the Tanzanian-born writer, Louise Glück, Handke and the Polish author. The previous year's recipient was Han Kang, the South Korean writer most famous for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will ceremonially accept the award and certificate in a ceremony in winter in the Swedish capital.

Updates to come