The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature has was awarded to László Krasznahorkai, the Hungarian author celebrated “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.” With this, Krasznahorkai cements his place as one of Central Europe’s most profound literary voices, following in the tradition of Kafka and Thomas Bernhard, yet crafting a world entirely his own.
From Gyula to Global Acclaim
Born in 1954 in Gyula, a small town in southeast Hungary near the Romanian border, Krasznahorkai’s early environment mirrors the landscapes of his fiction: remote, windswept, and quietly unsettling. His first novel, Sátántangó (1985; Satantango, 2012), set in a similarly isolated Hungarian countryside, immediately marked him as a literary force.
The novel depicts residents of an abandoned collective farm, living under silence and anticipation, until the charismatic figures Irimiás and Petrina return, sowing hope, or the last judgment. The “satanic” element in the title reflects the darkly manipulative morality and trickery at the heart of the story. Its impact was so profound that it became a 1994 film, directed in collaboration with Béla Tarr.
American critic Susan Sontag would later call Krasznahorkai contemporary literature’s “master of the apocalypse” after reading his second novel, Az ellenállás melankóliája (1989; The Melancholy of Resistance, 1998). Here, a small Hungarian town in a Carpathian valley faces social chaos, triggered by the arrival of a ghostly circus carrying the carcass of a giant whale.
Beyond Hungary
In Háború és háború (1999; War & War, 2006), Krasznahorkai turns outward. The archivist Korin leaves Budapest for New York, driven by a desire to bring an ancient epic about returning warriors to the world. His prose, defined by long, flowing sentences without full stops, had by now become his signature, a style that amplifies both tension and immersion.
Later, in Báró Wenckheim hazatér (2016; Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, 2019), he examines the return to homeland. The baron, ruined and living in exile in Argentina, hopes to reunite with a childhood love, only to be at the mercy of the treacherous Dante. With comic undertones and epic scale, Krasznahorkai plays lavishly with literary tradition, echoing Dostoyevsky and picaresque storytelling.
Herscht 07769: Apocalypse meets Bach
His 2021 novel, Herscht 07769: Florian Herscht Bach-regénye (2024; Herscht 07769: A Novel), moves the setting to Thüringen, Germany, capturing a contemporary town in the throes of social unrest, murder, and arson. Yet amid the chaos, the shadow of Johann Sebastian Bach looms, offering a counterpoint of beauty.
Eastward inspirations
Krasznahorkai’s travels to China and Japan inspired a quieter, contemplative side. Északról hegy, Délről tó, Nyugatról utak, Keletről folyó (2003; A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East, 2022) takes readers southeast of Kyoto, exploring the search for a secret garden with lyrical precision.
It preludes Seiobo járt odalent (2008; Seiobo There Below, 2013), a Fibonacci-arranged collection of seventeen stories exploring the creation of art in a world of impermanence. Snow-white herons, unseen artisans, and mythic guardians of beauty lead readers “through a row of ‘side doors’ to the inexplicable act of creation,” revealing Krasznahorkai’s fascination with how art emerges from obscurity.
Playing with madness
László Krasznahorkai’s work spans continents, centuries, and styles, uniting grotesque absurdism with lyrical beauty, apocalypse with artistry, and Europe with the East. Whether in the Hungarian countryside, a German town, or Kyoto’s riverbanks, his stories examine humanity at its extremes while celebrating the transcendent power of creation. His Nobel Prize is not just a recognition of storytelling, but a tribute to literature’s ability to illumin .
Courtesy: Economic Times
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
