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The world-renowned Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been granted to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as declared by the Swedish Academy.

The Academy highlighted the seventy-one-year-old's "gripping and imaginative collection that, within end-times dread, reaffirms the power of creative expression."

A Legacy of Dystopian Narratives

Krasznahorkai is renowned for his dark, pensive books, which have garnered several awards, for instance the 2019 National Book Award for international writing and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

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

Debut Novel

Originating in Gyula, Hungary in 1954, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition with his 1985 initial work his seminal novel, a grim and mesmerising depiction of a disintegrating countryside settlement.

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

A Distinctive Prose Technique

Frequently labeled as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate prose (the twelve chapters of the book each comprise a solitary block of text), dystopian and pensive subjects, and the kind of relentless intensity that has led critics to compare him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

The novel was notably made into a seven-hour movie by director the director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy working relationship.

"Krasznahorkai is a great writer of epic tales in the central European literary tradition that traces back to Franz Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is defined by the absurd and grotesque excess," commented the Nobel chair, head of the Nobel jury.

He described Krasznahorkai’s writing as having "progressed to … smooth structure with lengthy, intricate lines without periods that has become his hallmark."

Critical Acclaim

Susan Sontag has described the author as "today's Hungarian genius of end-times," while Sebald commended the universality of his vision.

A handful of Krasznahorkai’s books have been published in English. The literary critic James Wood once wrote that his books "get passed around like rare currency."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s career has been influenced by travel as much as by literature. He first exited the communist Hungary in 1987, spending a year in West Berlin for a scholarship, and later was inspired from Eastern Asia – notably Asian nations – for works such as one of his titles, and another novel.

While developing this novel, he explored across European nations and lived for a time in the legendary poet's New York residence, noting the renowned poet's backing as vital to finalizing the book.

Writer's Own Words

Questioned how he would describe his work in an conversation, Krasznahorkai answered: "Characters; then from these characters, vocabulary; then from these words, some brief phrases; then more sentences that are longer, and in the primary exceptionally extended sentences, for the period of decades. Beauty in writing. Enjoyment in hell."

On audiences discovering his work for the initial encounter, he continued: "Should there be people who have not yet read my works, I would not suggest a particular book to peruse to them; on the contrary, I’d recommend them to venture outside, sit down somewhere, maybe by the side of a brook, with no obligations, nothing to think about, just staying in quiet like stones. They will sooner or later meet someone who has previously read my works."

Literature Prize History

Ahead of the reveal, betting agencies had pegged the frontrunners for this year’s prize as the Chinese writer, an innovative from China writer, and Krasznahorkai himself.

The Nobel Honor in Literature has been given on one hundred seventeen previous occasions since the early 20th century. Recent winners include the French author, the musician, the Tanzanian-born writer, the poet, the Austrian and Olga Tokarczuk. Last year’s honoree was Han Kang, the Korean novelist most famous for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will ceremonially receive the prize medal and document in a function in winter in Stockholm.

Additional details forthcoming