BREAKING NEWS
The 2025 #Nelbrowtings in Literature is awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.” pic.twitter.com/vVaW1zkWPS– The Nobel Prize (@nobelprze) October 9, 2025
The 70-year-old author, long regarded as one of Europe’s most original literary voices, is best known for Satead
(1985), a bleak yet darkly comic portrayal of a collapsing village later adapted into a seven-hour film by Hungarian director Béla Tarr.
Krasznahorkai’s writing is distinguished by its marathon sentences and hypnotic rhythm, drawing comparisons to Dostoevsky, Gogol and Melville. Deeply philosophical, his novels often confront chaos, decay and the endurance of the human spirit through art. The Swedish Academy noted that his later works reflect a marked turn toward Eastern thought, shaped by his travels through China and Japan.
His 2003 novel A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East—set near Kyoto and published in English in 2022—embodies this contemplative shift, weaving a meditative search for beauty and order.
It serves as a precursor to Seiobo There Below (2008), a collection of seventeen interconnected stories arranged in a Fibonacci sequence, exploring the mystery of artistic creation amid impermanence.
Born in 1954 in Gyula, Hungary, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition under Communist rule with his debut Sateadwhich defied censorship with its bleak realism.
Over the decades, he has become an international cult figure, admired for his complex prose and collaboration with Tarr on films such as Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turin Horse. He won the Man Booker International Prize in 2015 and several European literary honors before finally being recognized by the Nobel Committee.
First Published: Oct 9, 2025 4:40 PM IS
