The Swedish Academy has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature to Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai, recognizing his compelling and visionary literary works that reaffirm the power of art in the face of apocalyptic terror. Krasznahorkai, 71, is considered one of Hungary’s most important living authors, known for exploring themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy in his writing.
Krasznahorkai’s breakthrough novel, “Satantango,” published in 1985, brought him to prominence in Hungary and remains his best-known work. The novel portrays a destitute group of residents on an abandoned collective farm in the Hungarian countryside just before the fall of communism. His writing style, characterized by absurdism and grotesque excess, has drawn comparisons to Kafka and Thomas Bernhard.
The Nobel Committee praised Krasznahorkai’s unique literary voice, saying he is “a great epic writer in the Central European tradition.” His works have been described as “reality examined to the point of madness,” and he has a penchant for long sentences and few paragraph breaks. Krasznahorkai’s collaboration with Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr has resulted in critically acclaimed adaptations of his novels, including “Satantango” and “The Werckmeister Harmonies”.
This award makes Krasznahorkai the second Hungarian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, following Imre Kertesz in 2002. The prize comes with a diploma, a gold medal, and a cash award of $1.2 million.
