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

The Committee highlighted the 71-year-old's "gripping and imaginative body of work that, within cataclysmic dread, confirms the strength of the arts."

A Renowned Path of Apocalyptic Narratives

Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his bleak, melancholic works, which have earned numerous awards, such as the 2019 National Book Award for translated literature and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

A number of of his books, including his fictional works his debut and another major work, have been made into movies.

Early Beginnings

Born in Gyula, Hungary in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his mid-80s initial work his seminal novel, a bleak and mesmerising representation of a collapsing rural community.

The novel would go on to secure the Man Booker International Prize award in the English language decades after, in the 2010s.

A Unique Literary Style

Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is known for his lengthy, intricate sentences (the dozen sections of his novel each comprise a single paragraph), apocalyptic and melancholic themes, and the kind of persistent power that has led literary experts to draw parallels with Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

The novel was notably adapted into a seven-hour movie by director the director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy creative partnership.

"He is a remarkable author of grand narratives in the Central European literary tradition that traces back to Franz Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is marked by absurdist elements and bizarre extremes," stated the committee chair, head of the Nobel committee.

He described Krasznahorkai’s prose as having "developed towards … flowing structure with long, winding sentences devoid of full stops that has become his hallmark."

Critical Acclaim

Sontag has described the author as "today's from Hungary expert of the apocalyptic," while the writer W.G. Sebald commended the universality of his perspective.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s works have been translated into English. The literary critic James Wood once remarked that his books "are shared like valuable artifacts."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s career has been influenced by travel as much as by language. He first left socialist Hungary in 1987, spending a period in the city for a grant, and later found inspiration from east Asia – especially Asian nations – for novels such as a specific work, and his book on China.

While writing War and War, he travelled widely across European nations and stayed in the legendary poet's New York apartment, stating the legendary writer's support as crucial to completing the novel.

Author's Perspective

Asked how he would characterize his oeuvre in an interview, Krasznahorkai responded: "Letters; then from letters, words; then from these words, some brief phrases; then more sentences that are longer, and in the main extremely lengthy phrases, for the period of 35 years. Beauty in writing. Fun in despair."

On audiences encountering his writing for the first time, he noted: "For any readers who haven’t read my books, I would not suggest any specific title to peruse to them; rather, I’d advise them to go out, sit down somewhere, perhaps by the side of a brook, with no tasks, a clear mind, just staying in tranquility like stones. They will in time meet someone who has already read my books."

Literature Prize History

Before the announcement, betting agencies had pegged the frontrunners for this year's honor as Can Xue, an avant garde Chinese writer, and Krasznahorkai.

The Nobel Prize in Literary Arts has been given on over a hundred prior instances since 1901. Recent winners have included Annie Ernaux, Dylan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Louise Glück, Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk. The most recent recipient was Han Kang, the South Korean writer best known for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will formally receive the award and certificate in a event in winter in Stockholm, Sweden.

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