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

The Academy praised the 71-year-old's "powerful and prophetic oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art."

An Esteemed Career of Dystopian Fiction

Krasznahorkai is renowned for his dystopian, somber books, which have garnered numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book Award for international writing and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his novels, notably his fictional works Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been made into feature films.

Early Beginnings

Born in Gyula, Hungary in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his 1985 first book Satantango, a bleak and mesmerising representation of a disintegrating rural community.

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

A Unique Prose Technique

Commonly referred to as avant-garde, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his long, winding phrases (the twelve chapters of Satantango each are a single paragraph), bleak and pensive themes, and the kind of persistent force that has led literary experts to liken him to literary giants like Kafka.

This work was notably made into a seven-hour motion picture by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a enduring artistic collaboration.

"Krasznahorkai is a significant author of grand narratives in the central European heritage that extends through Franz Kafka to Bernhard, and is marked by absurdist elements and grotesque excess," said the Nobel chair, head of the Nobel committee.

He described Krasznahorkai’s style as having "evolved into … flowing syntax with extended, meandering lines without punctuation that has become his trademark."

Literary Praise

Susan Sontag has called the author as "today's Hungarian master of apocalypse," while Sebald commended the broad relevance of his outlook.

Just a small number of Krasznahorkai’s works have been translated into the English language. The critic James Wood once remarked that his books "get passed around like precious items."

Global Influences

Krasznahorkai’s career has been shaped by exploration as much as by language. He first left communist Hungary in 1987, residing a period in Berlin for a grant, and later found inspiration from east Asia – notably China and Mongolia – for books such as The Prisoner of Urga, and another novel.

While writing War and War, he journeyed extensively across the continent and resided temporarily in Ginsberg's New York home, noting the legendary writer's backing as crucial to finalizing the novel.

Krasznahorkai on His Work

Questioned how he would describe his writing in an interview, Krasznahorkai said: "Characters; then from letters, vocabulary; then from these words, some brief phrases; then additional phrases that are longer, and in the primary exceptionally extended phrases, for the period of three and a half decades. Beauty in language. Enjoyment in hell."

On fans discovering his writing for the first time, he added: "If there are people who haven’t read my novels, I would not suggest a particular book to peruse to them; rather, I’d suggest them to go out, sit down in a place, possibly by the banks of a creek, with no obligations, a clear mind, just remaining in silence like rocks. They will eventually meet an individual who has encountered my works."

Literature Prize History

Before the announcement, bookmakers had listed the favourites for this year’s prize as Can Xue, an avant garde from China novelist, and Krasznahorkai himself.

The Nobel Prize in Literary Arts has been presented on over a hundred prior instances since 1901. Current laureates have included Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Gurnah, Glück, Handke and the Polish author. Last year’s winner was Han Kang, the South Korean novelist most famous for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will formally receive the prize medal and document in a function in the month of December in the Swedish capital.

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