The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday.
Krasznahorkai’s novel ‘Herscht 07769’ has been described as a major contemporary German work, praised for its meticulous portrayal of social unrest, news agency ANI reported.
“In `Herscht 07769` we find ourselves not in a feverish nightmare in the Carpathians but rather a credible portrayal of a contemporary small town in Thuringen, Germany, which is nevertheless also afflicted by social anarchy, murder and arson. At the same time, the terror of the novel plays out against the backdrop of Johann Sebastian Bach`s powerful legacy. It is a book, written in a single breath, about violence and beauty `impossibly` conjoined,” the Swedish Academy said.
Born in 1954 in Gyula, a small town in southeast Hungary near the Romanian border, Krasznahorkai first attracted attention with his debut novel ‘Satantango’ in 1985. The novel, set in a remote rural area, became a literary sensation in Hungary and established him as a major voice in Central European literature, ANI reported.
The Academy highlighted that Krasznahorkai is an epic writer in the Central European tradition, which extends from Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, characterised by absurdism, grotesque excess, and a deep exploration of human despair. His works often combine bleak, apocalyptic visions with lyrical beauty, drawing readers into complex moral and existential dilemmas.
Krasznahorkai has also taken inspiration from Asia, especially Mongolia and China, in books like ‘The Prisoner of Urga’ and ‘Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens’, broadening the geographic and thematic scope of his writing, ANI reported. According to CNN, the late American essayist Susan Sontag called him the “contemporary master of the apocalypse”, with novels set in trembling Central European villages where townsfolk search for meaning in symbols scattered across a godless world.
The Nobel Prize in Literature, regarded as the highest international literary honour, has been awarded 117 times to 121 laureates between 1901 and 2024, recognising writings in over 20 languages, including Bengali. Previous laureates include Rabindranath Tagore (1913), Toni Morrison (1993), and Albert Camus (1957).
(With ANI inputs)