🔗 Share this article

The world-renowned Nobel Prize in Literature for this year has been awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as declared by the Swedish Academy.

The Academy praised the seventy-one-year-old's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, amidst end-times terror, confirms the power of creative expression."

An Esteemed Career of Dystopian Writing

Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his dystopian, melancholic novels, which have won numerous accolades, for instance the 2019 National Book Award for literature in translation and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

Many of his works, notably his fictional works Satantango and another major work, have been adapted into movies.

Initial Success

Originating in the Hungarian town of Gyula in 1954, Krasznahorkai first rose to prominence with his 1985 debut novel Satantango, a grim and mesmerising depiction of a collapsing village society.

The novel would eventually win the Man Booker International Prize honor in translation decades after, in the 2010s.

An Unconventional Prose Technique

Commonly referred to as avant-garde, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate sentences (the twelve chapters of his novel each consist of a one paragraph), apocalyptic and pensive subjects, and the kind of relentless intensity that has led literary experts to compare him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

This work was widely adapted into a seven-hour motion picture by cinematic artist Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a lengthy working relationship.

"He is a significant author of grand narratives in the Central European literary tradition that includes Franz Kafka to Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque exaggeration," commented Anders Olsson, head of the Nobel jury.

He described Krasznahorkai’s prose as having "evolved into … smooth language with extended, meandering phrases devoid of full stops that has become his signature."

Expert Opinions

The critic Susan Sontag has called the author as "the contemporary from Hungary expert of apocalypse," while WG Sebald praised the broad relevance of his outlook.

Just a small number of Krasznahorkai’s books have been published in English. The reviewer Wood once wrote that his books "circulate like valuable artifacts."

International Inspiration

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been shaped by journeys as much as by literature. He first departed from socialist the country in 1987, staying a twelve months in the city for a fellowship, and later drew inspiration from Eastern Asia – notably China and Mongolia – for novels such as The Prisoner of Urga, and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens.

While writing this novel, he journeyed extensively across Europe and lived for a time in the legendary poet's New York home, noting the renowned Beat poet's support as essential to finalizing the novel.

Writer's Own Words

Asked how he would explain his oeuvre in an conversation, Krasznahorkai said: "Letters; then from these characters, words; then from these words, some brief phrases; then more sentences that are lengthier, and in the chief very long phrases, for the duration of three and a half decades. Beauty in writing. Enjoyment in darkness."

On fans finding his writing for the first time, he continued: "If there are people who have not yet read my works, I couldn’t recommend anything to read to them; on the contrary, I’d suggest them to venture outside, settle at a location, perhaps by the banks of a creek, with no tasks, a clear mind, just remaining in silence like boulders. They will sooner or later come across a person who has already read my novels."

Award Background

Prior to the declaration, oddsmakers had pegged the favourites for this year’s award as Can Xue, an innovative from China novelist, and the Hungarian.

The Nobel Award in Literature has been given on over a hundred past events since 1901. Latest laureates are the French author, Bob Dylan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Glück, Handke and Tokarczuk. Last year’s recipient was Han Kang, the Korean author renowned for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will ceremonially be presented with the prize medal and certificate in a event in the month of December in the Swedish capital.

Updates to come