Nobel Prize in Literature Awarded to Hungarian Novelist László Krasznahorkai

László Krasznahorkai, the Hungarian novelist known for his dense, haunting prose and epic portrayals of crumbling societies, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy praised him "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art".
Krasznahorkai, 71, is the second Hungarian author to win the prize, following Imre Kertész in 2002. Known for pushing literary boundaries, he’s best described—by his translator George Szirtes—as a writer who “draws you in until the world he conjures echoes and echoes inside you, until it’s your own vision of order and chaos.”
From Communist Hungary to Global Acclaim
Born in the small Hungarian town of Gyula, near the Romanian border, Krasznahorkai came to prominence in 1985 with his first novel Satantango—a bleak, postmodern story set on an abandoned collective farm. The book became a sensation and later a seven-hour black-and-white film by long-time collaborator Béla Tarr.
His upbringing under communism, combined with time spent living in Germany, Japan, and China, heavily shaped his themes. His writing often explores decay, absurdity, and the collapse of social order—earning him comparisons to Kafka and Thomas Bernhard.
"When I am not reading Kafka, I am thinking about Kafka. When I am not thinking about Kafka, I miss thinking about him," Krasznahorkai once said.
Krasznahorkai’s work isn’t for the faint-hearted. He’s known for his long, paragraph-free sentences and philosophical style, once describing his writing as “reality examined to the point of madness.” The Royal Swedish Academy called him a “great epic writer in the Central European tradition,” adding that his books also draw on Eastern influences, especially after time spent in Japan and China. Critic Susan Sontag dubbed him the "master of the apocalypse", especially after reading his second novel, The Melancholy of Resistance.
A Timely Voice in Troubled Times
Many of Krasznahorkai’s themes—disorder, moral collapse, waiting for change that never comes—feel especially relevant today.
“We seem to have entered the 21st century in a more hostile and bleak environment than we hoped for,” said Prof. Jason Whittaker from the University of Lincoln. Books like Satantango, once seen as dystopian and abstract, now resonate more deeply with readers living through war, climate crisis, and political upheaval.
Beyond Satantango, his notable works include:
- The Melancholy of Resistance (1989)
- War and War (1999)
- Seiobo There Below (2008)
- Herscht 07769 (2021), set in a tense, fractured German town
- Zsömle Odavan (2024), a satirical story about a vanished Hungarian royal
His stories have earned global acclaim, including the 2015 Man Booker International Prize and a Best Translated Book Award for Satantango.
Several of Krasznahorkai’s novels were adapted into critically acclaimed films by Béla Tarr, such as The Werckmeister Harmonies. Tarr said of his longtime collaborator: "When I read (Satantango), I knew it immediately that I must make a film based on it... It’s hard to say anything right now. I am very happy."
About the Nobel
The Literature Prize, worth around $1.2 million, is one of the five original Nobel categories established in 1901. Over the years, the prize has celebrated names like Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemingway, Orhan Pamuk, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Last year’s winner was Han Kang of South Korea, recognized for her poetic exploration of historical trauma.
While the Nobel has had its fair share of controversy over the years, this year's award has been widely welcomed as recognition of a powerful, demanding, and deeply human body of work. As the Nobel committee put it, Krasznahorkai's voice stands as a reaffirmation of the power of art in times when the world seems to unravel.