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The prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature for this year has been granted to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as revealed by the committee.

The Academy praised the author's "gripping and imaginative collection that, amidst cataclysmic fear, reaffirms the power of the arts."

An Esteemed Career of Dystopian Fiction

Krasznahorkai is renowned for his bleak, somber books, which have won numerous awards, including the 2019 National Book Award for international writing and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.

A number of of his books, among them his novels his debut and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been turned into cinematic works.

Initial Success

Born in a Hungarian locale in the mid-1950s, Krasznahorkai first rose to prominence with his 1985 first book Satantango, a bleak and hypnotic depiction of a disintegrating countryside settlement.

The novel would eventually earn the Man Booker International Prize award in translation nearly three decades later, in the 2010s.

A Distinctive Prose Technique

Often described as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is famous for his extended, meandering prose (the dozen sections of Satantango each are a one paragraph), bleak and melancholic themes, and the kind of unwavering force that has led literary experts to compare him to literary giants like Kafka.

The novel was widely made into a lengthy film by filmmaker Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long creative partnership.

"The author is a great writer of epic tales in the European heritage that includes Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdist elements and bizarre extremes," stated the Nobel chair, chair of the Nobel committee.

He described Krasznahorkai’s style as having "evolved into … smooth language with extended, meandering lines lacking punctuation that has become his signature."

Literary Praise

Sontag has referred to the author as "the contemporary Hungarian expert of the apocalyptic," while Sebald applauded the universality of his perspective.

Only a few of Krasznahorkai’s novels have been rendered in English. The literary critic James Wood once remarked that his books "are shared like precious items."

Worldwide Travels

Krasznahorkai’s professional journey has been influenced by exploration as much as by his writing. He first exited the communist his homeland in 1987, spending a year in the city for a grant, and later found inspiration from east Asia – particularly Mongolia and China – for works such as The Prisoner of Urga, and his book on China.

While working on this novel, he explored across the continent and resided temporarily in Allen Ginsberg’s New York apartment, stating the famous poet's support as essential to finishing the work.

Author's Perspective

Questioned how he would explain his work in an discussion, Krasznahorkai answered: "Characters; then from these characters, vocabulary; then from these words, some short sentences; then more sentences that are lengthier, and in the primary exceptionally extended sentences, for the span of three and a half decades. Beauty in language. Fun in hell."

On readers finding his writing for the first time, he added: "For any individuals who have not yet read my books, I would refrain from advising any specific title to explore to them; instead, I’d recommend them to step out, settle in a place, maybe by the edge of a stream, with no tasks, a clear mind, just remaining in quiet like stones. They will in time meet someone who has previously read my works."

Award Background

Before the announcement, oddsmakers had ranked the top contenders for this year's honor as Can Xue, an avant garde Chinese writer, and the Hungarian.

The Nobel Award in Writing has been given on over a hundred prior instances since 1901. Latest winners are Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Gurnah, Louise Glück, the Austrian and Olga Tokarczuk. The previous year's winner was the South Korean writer, the Korean author best known for her acclaimed novel.

Krasznahorkai will formally receive the award and diploma in a ceremony in winter in the Swedish capital.

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