On Thursday, 8 October 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai. The academy cited the award “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Krasznahorkai writes, “I am deeply glad that I have received the Nobel prize – above all because this award proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read. And for those who read it, it offers a certain hope that beauty, nobility, and the sublime still exist for their own sake. It may offer hope even to those in whom life itself only barely flickers.”
This Nobel Prize is the latest accolade in Krasznahorkai’s long and decorated career. Born in 1954 in Communist Hungary, Krasznahorkai’s early life was marked by an inability to travel due to the secret police confiscating his passport. As a result, his early works, particularly his breakout novel Satantango published in 1985, evokes the same feelings of entrapment and suffocation he experienced. Set in a desolate Hungarian village, Satantango follows the collapse of society, particularly under the influence of totalitarianism. The novel also engages in philosophical themes of nihilism and critiques the Soviet-style economic system.
Nearly three decades later, this novel went on to win the 2015 Man Booker International prize, making Krasznahorkai the first Hungarian author to receive the award. He has also won the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature, the 2015 Man Booker International Prize, and the 2013 Best Translated Book Award in Fiction. Krasznahorkai’s most celebrated novels; The Melancholy of Resistance and Satantango have both been adapted into film by the Hungarian director Bela Tarr.
Krasznahorkai’s prose is described as postmodern, characterised by long complex sentences that seemingly never end. Most notably, in Satantango each of its 12 chapters is composed of one continuous paragraph. Krasznahorkai’s translator George Szirtes described this book as a “slow lava flow of narrative, a vast black river of type.” His distinct style has led him to be compared to authors such as Gogol, Melville and Kafka but Krasznahorkai cites Dostoyevsky as one of his greatest literary inspirations.
In order to fully understand Krasznahorkai’s brilliance, the Swedish Academy recommends individuals to read Santantango, The Meloncholy of Resistance, Seiobo There Below and Herscht 07769: A Novel. Together, these works offer a glimpse into Krasznahorkai’s dystopian vision of humanity, conveyed through his relentless and dense prose.
“Books in HCRO Dorm Library” by C G-K is licensed under CC BY 2.0.