The Hungarian Author László Krasznahorkai Receives the Nobel Nobel Prize in Literature
The world-renowned Nobel Prize in Literature for this year has been granted to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, as announced by the Swedish Academy.
The Committee commended the 71-year-old's "powerful and prophetic body of work that, within end-times dread, reasserts the strength of the arts."
A Legacy of Bleak Writing
Krasznahorkai is celebrated for his bleak, melancholic books, which have earned several accolades, including the 2019 National Book Award for translated literature and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.
Many of his works, among them his novels his debut and another major work, have been made into feature films.
Debut Novel
Hailing in the Hungarian town of Gyula in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his 1985 debut novel Satantango, a bleak and mesmerising portrayal of a collapsing village society.
The work would eventually secure the Man Booker International Prize award in the English language many years later, in the 2010s.
A Unique Writing Approach
Commonly referred to as postmodernist, Krasznahorkai is renowned for his lengthy, intricate prose (the twelve chapters of the book each comprise a one paragraph), dystopian and somber subjects, and the kind of relentless force that has led critics to draw parallels with Kafka, Melville, and Gogol.
The novel was famously made into a seven-hour movie by cinematic artist Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long creative partnership.
"Krasznahorkai is a significant writer of epic tales in the European literary tradition that extends through Franz Kafka to the Austrian writer, and is marked by the absurd and bizarre extremes," commented the Nobel chair, leader of the Nobel jury.
He described Krasznahorkai’s prose as having "developed towards … continuous language with long, winding lines without periods that has become his signature."
Expert Opinions
Sontag has referred to the author as "today's from Hungary expert of end-times," while Sebald praised the broad relevance of his outlook.
Just a small number of Krasznahorkai’s works have been published in English. The reviewer James Wood once wrote that his books "circulate like rare currency."
International Inspiration
Krasznahorkai’s career has been influenced by travel as much as by literature. He first exited the communist the country in 1987, spending a twelve months in West Berlin for a grant, and later found inspiration from Eastern Asia – notably Mongolia and China – for books such as one of his titles, and his book on China.
While developing this novel, he travelled widely across the continent and resided temporarily in Allen Ginsberg’s New York home, stating the famous writer's support as essential to finalizing the work.
Writer's Own Words
Asked how he would describe his oeuvre in an discussion, Krasznahorkai responded: "Letters; then from these characters, words; then from these words, some brief phrases; then more sentences that are lengthier, and in the chief extremely lengthy sentences, for the span of three and a half decades. Beauty in prose. Fun in despair."
On fans finding his books for the initial encounter, he noted: "If there are individuals who are new to my works, I would not suggest a particular book to peruse 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 staying in silence like boulders. They will in time meet an individual who has encountered my works."
Award Background
Before the announcement, bookmakers had pegged the favourites for this annual honor as Can Xue, an innovative Chinese novelist, and Krasznahorkai.
The Nobel Honor in Literature has been given on one hundred seventeen previous occasions since 1901. Current winners include Annie Ernaux, the musician, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Glück, the Austrian and the Polish author. The most recent recipient was Han Kang, the from South Korea novelist most famous for her acclaimed novel.
Krasznahorkai will formally accept the prize medal and certificate in a function in the month of December in Stockholm, Sweden.
Additional details forthcoming