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The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been granted to from Hungary author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the Nobel awarding body.

The Jury commended the author's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, within cataclysmic dread, confirms the power of art."

A Legacy of Dystopian Fiction

Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his bleak, melancholic novels, which have earned many awards, such as the recent National Book Award for literature in translation and the prestigious Man Booker International Prize.

Several of his books, including his titles Satantango and another major work, have been adapted into movies.

Initial Success

Originating in a Hungarian locale in 1954, Krasznahorkai first rose to prominence with his 1985 debut novel Satantango, a grim and hypnotic portrayal of a failing countryside settlement.

The work would later win the Man Booker International Prize honor in English nearly three decades later, in 2013.

An Unconventional Literary Style

Frequently labeled as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is famous for his lengthy, intricate phrases (the twelve chapters of Satantango each comprise a single paragraph), apocalyptic and melancholic motifs, and the kind of persistent intensity that has led reviewers to compare him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

The novel was famously adapted into a seven-hour film by cinematic artist Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy creative partnership.

"Krasznahorkai is a great author of grand narratives in the European tradition that extends through Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is marked by absurdism and grotesque exaggeration," stated the Nobel chair, leader of the Nobel committee.

He characterized Krasznahorkai’s style as having "progressed to … continuous structure with lengthy, intricate phrases lacking full stops that has become his hallmark."

Expert Opinions

Susan Sontag has called the author as "the contemporary from Hungary expert of apocalypse," while WG Sebald applauded the broad relevance of his vision.

Just a small number of Krasznahorkai’s works have been translated into the English language. The reviewer James Wood once remarked that his books "circulate like valuable artifacts."

International Inspiration

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been shaped by journeys as much as by language. He first left the communist Hungary in 1987, spending a year in West Berlin for a grant, and later was inspired from Eastern Asia – especially Asian nations – for novels such as a specific work, and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens.

While writing War and War, he travelled widely across Europe and lived for a time in the legendary poet's New York home, describing the legendary Beat poet's support as vital to finalizing the book.

Author's Perspective

Questioned how he would characterize his writing in an conversation, Krasznahorkai said: "Characters; then from these characters, words; then from these terms, some short sentences; then further lines that are longer, and in the main extremely lengthy phrases, for the duration of three and a half decades. Elegance in language. Fun in darkness."

On audiences discovering his work for the initial encounter, he continued: "Should there be individuals who have not yet read my books, I couldn’t recommend a particular book to peruse to them; instead, I’d suggest them to venture outside, settle in a place, perhaps by the edge of a stream, with no obligations, a clear mind, just remaining in tranquility like boulders. They will in time meet someone who has already read my books."

Nobel Prize Context

Prior to the declaration, oddsmakers had ranked the top contenders for this annual honor as an avant-garde author, an experimental from China writer, and Krasznahorkai.

The Nobel Prize in Literary Arts has been given on 117 prior instances since 1901. Latest recipients are Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Gurnah, the poet, the Austrian and the Polish author. The previous year's honoree was Han Kang, the Korean novelist most famous for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will formally receive the medal and diploma in a function in the month of December in Stockholm, Sweden.

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