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

The Jury highlighted the seventy-one-year-old's "powerful and prophetic oeuvre that, within cataclysmic fear, reasserts the force of creative expression."

An Esteemed Career of Dystopian Fiction

Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, somber books, which have garnered several accolades, including the 2019 National Book Award for translated literature and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his works, including his titles Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been made into movies.

Debut Novel

Born in the Hungarian town of Gyula in 1954, Krasznahorkai first rose to prominence with his 1985 debut novel his seminal novel, a dark and hypnotic portrayal of a failing rural community.

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

A Distinctive Prose Technique

Frequently labeled as avant-garde, Krasznahorkai is known for his extended, meandering sentences (the 12 chapters of the book each are a one paragraph), bleak and somber themes, and the kind of unwavering intensity that has led critics to draw parallels with Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

Satantango was notably made into a lengthy motion picture by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy artistic collaboration.

"The author is a significant writer of epic tales in the European literary tradition that traces back to Franz Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is characterised by the absurd and grotesque exaggeration," commented the Nobel chair, head of the Nobel committee.

He described Krasznahorkai’s writing as having "progressed to … flowing syntax with extended, meandering sentences devoid of punctuation that has become his trademark."

Expert Opinions

Susan Sontag has described the author as "today's from Hungary genius of end-times," while Sebald praised the broad relevance of his vision.

A handful of Krasznahorkai’s works have been rendered in English. The critic James Wood once noted that his books "circulate like precious items."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been shaped by travel as much as by literature. He first departed from socialist his homeland in the late 80s, spending a twelve months in the city for a scholarship, and later drew inspiration from east Asia – notably Mongolia and China – for books such as one of his titles, and his book on China.

While developing this novel, he travelled widely across the continent and lived for a time in Ginsberg's New York home, describing the legendary poet's assistance as crucial to completing the work.

Writer's Own Words

Questioned how he would explain his oeuvre in an discussion, Krasznahorkai said: "Letters; then from letters, vocabulary; then from these words, some brief phrases; then further lines that are longer, and in the primary exceptionally extended paragraphs, for the duration of three and a half decades. Elegance in writing. Fun in hell."

On audiences finding his books for the first time, he continued: "For any readers who haven’t read my books, I would refrain from advising any specific title to explore to them; instead, I’d advise them to step out, settle at a location, perhaps by the banks of a creek, with no tasks, a clear mind, just being in tranquility like rocks. They will sooner or later come across an individual who has already read my books."

Nobel Prize Context

Prior to the declaration, betting agencies had ranked the frontrunners for this year’s honor as an avant-garde author, an experimental Chinese novelist, and Krasznahorkai himself.

The Nobel Prize in Writing has been awarded on 117 prior instances since 1901. Latest laureates are Ernaux, the musician, Gurnah, the poet, the Austrian and the Polish author. Last year’s recipient was Han Kang, the South Korean writer renowned for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will ceremonially accept the medal and certificate in a function in December in Stockholm.

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