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The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for this year has been bestowed upon from Hungary author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the committee.

The Academy highlighted the seventy-one-year-old's "gripping and imaginative body of work that, within cataclysmic fear, reaffirms the strength of art."

A Legacy of Dystopian Narratives

Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his dystopian, pensive works, which have garnered many accolades, including the 2019 National Book Award for international writing and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

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

Early Beginnings

Originating in Gyula, Hungary in 1954, Krasznahorkai first gained recognition with his 1985 initial work Satantango, a bleak and captivating representation of a failing rural community.

The novel would go on to win the Man Booker International Prize recognition in translation decades after, in 2013.

A Unique Writing Approach

Frequently labeled as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate phrases (the twelve chapters of the book each are a single paragraph), dystopian and melancholic subjects, and the kind of relentless force that has led reviewers to compare him to literary giants like Kafka.

This work was famously transformed into a lengthy movie by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a enduring creative partnership.

"He is a great author of grand narratives in the Central European heritage that extends through Kafka to Bernhard, and is marked by the absurd and grotesque excess," commented the committee chair, chair of the Nobel jury.

He described Krasznahorkai’s writing as having "developed towards … continuous structure with lengthy, intricate lines lacking periods that has become his trademark."

Expert Opinions

Susan Sontag has described the author as "the contemporary Hungarian expert of the apocalyptic," while WG Sebald praised the wide appeal of his perspective.

A handful of Krasznahorkai’s works have been rendered in English. The literary critic James Wood once noted that his books "are shared like precious items."

Global Influences

Krasznahorkai’s career has been molded by journeys as much as by language. He first left socialist his homeland in 1987, spending a period in West Berlin for a grant, and later drew inspiration from east Asia – particularly Asian nations – for novels such as a specific work, and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens.

While writing War and War, he journeyed extensively across the continent and lived for a time in the legendary poet's New York residence, stating the legendary Beat poet's assistance as essential to finalizing the novel.

Author's Perspective

Questioned how he would explain his writing in an discussion, Krasznahorkai answered: "Characters; then from these characters, vocabulary; then from these terms, some concise lines; then more sentences that are lengthier, and in the chief extremely lengthy phrases, for the span of 35 years. Elegance in writing. Fun in hell."

On audiences discovering his books for the first time, he added: "If there are individuals who have not yet read my books, I couldn’t recommend anything to read to them; instead, I’d recommend them to go out, sit down in a place, possibly by the banks of a creek, with no obligations, a clear mind, just being in silence like boulders. They will sooner or later come across someone who has previously read my books."

Award Background

Ahead of the reveal, betting agencies had pegged the frontrunners for this year’s honor as Can Xue, an experimental Chinese novelist, and the Hungarian.

The Nobel Award in Literature has been given on one hundred seventeen prior instances since 1901. Current laureates have included the French author, Bob Dylan, the Tanzanian-born writer, Glück, Peter Handke and the Polish author. Last year’s winner was Han Kang, the from South Korea author best known for The Vegetarian.

Krasznahorkai will officially receive the award and document in a event in the month of December in Stockholm.

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