Hungarian novelist and screenwriter László Krasznahorkai (71) has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.” 

• He becomes the second Hungarian to receive this prestigious award after Imre Kertész (2002).

About the Nobel Prize in Literature

• The Nobel Prize in Literature was first awarded in 1901, in accordance with the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite.
• It is conferred annually by the Swedish Academy to an author, poet, or playwright who has produced “the most distinguished work in an ideal direction.”
• French poet Sully Prudhomme was the first recipient in 1901.
• Till 2025, a total of 124 Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded, of which only 18 have gone to women.
  France leads globally with 16 laureates.
• 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature: It was awarded to Han Kang, the South Korean author, for her lyrical and humane portrayal of trauma, memory, and identity in the aftermath of war.
• Indian Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Rabindranath Tagore (1913) remains the only Indian to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his poetry collection Gitanjali (Song Offerings), becoming the first Asian Nobel laureate.

• He was honoured “for his profoundly sensitive, fresh, and beautiful verse,” marking a milestone for Asian literature on the global stage.

About László Krasznahorkai

• Born: 1954, in Gyula, Hungary.
• Known for: Long, complex sentences, apocalyptic themes, and existential reflections on despair, chaos, and the power of art.
• Notable Works:
  • Sátántangó (1985) – his debut, adapted into a 7-hour film by Béla Tarr.
  • The Melancholy of Resistance (1989)
  • War & War (1999)
  • Seiobo There Below (2008)
  • Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (2016)
  • Herscht 07769 (2024)
• Previous Awards:
  • Man Booker International Prize (2015) for lifetime achievement.
  • Kossuth Prize (2004) — Hungary’s highest cultural honour.
• His writing explores ruin, faith, resistance, and transcendence, earning him the title “the Hungarian master of apocalypse.”

Contribution to Literature

• Krasznahorkai’s prose stands at the intersection of philosophy, art, and human despair, blending Kafkaesque absurdity with biblical grandeur.
• His works are distinguished by:
  • Long, hypnotic sentences that mirror the stream of consciousness.
  • Themes of apocalypse, endurance, and absurdity.
  • A universal exploration of hope amid chaos, making him a contemporary moral philosopher of literature.
    

MCQ

Q. Consider the following statements regarding the Nobel Prize in Literature:

1. The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to László Krasznahorkai for his visionary prose that reaffirms the power of art amid apocalyptic terror.
2. He is the third Hungarian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
3. The first-ever Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded in 1901 to Sully Prudhomme of France.
4. Rabindranath Tagore (1913) remains the only Indian Nobel laureate in Literature.
5. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Han Kang from South Korea.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1, 3, 4 and 5 only
(b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 2 and 5 only
(d) 1, 3 and 4 only

Answer: (a) 

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