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Nobel and other Prizes

Laszlo Krasznahorkai wins Nobel Prize in Literature, 2025

Why in the News?

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, a Hungarian novelist known for his dense, philosophical narratives and apocalyptic vision of modern existence.

Back2Basics: Nobel Prize in Literature

  • First awarded in 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been conferred 117 times to 121 laureates.
  • Prize Details (2025): Each laureate receives 11 million Swedish kronor (~1.2 million USD), an 18-karat gold medal, and a diploma.
  • Ceremony: Held annually on December 10, marking the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel (1896), Swedish inventor and founder of the prize.
  • The 2024 laureate was Han Kang of South Korea, recognized for fiction confronting historical trauma and the fragility of life.

About Laszlo Krasznahorkai:

  • Overview: Hungarian novelist celebrated for his dense, philosophical, and apocalyptic prose that examines the fragility of modern civilization.
  • Background: Regarded as one of Europe’s leading postmodern writers, noted for long, flowing sentences and hypnotic rhythm.
  • Themes & Style: His works probe moral collapse, spiritual decay, existential isolation, and the search for meaning amid disorder.
  • Literary Voice: Combines dark humor with metaphysical reflection; often set in bleak, decaying landscapes where characters struggle between despair and artistic endurance.
  • Recognition: Known as a “writer’s writer”, his art embodies a belief in the redemptive endurance of literature.

Major Works & Adaptations:

  • Satantango (1985):  Debut novel portraying a collapsing rural community; adapted by BĂ©la Tarr into a seven-hour film, acclaimed for its realism and existential tone.
  • The Melancholy of Resistance (1989): Allegory of hysteria and conformity in a small town; adapted as Werckmeister Harmonies (2000).
  • War and War (1999): Follows a Hungarian archivist obsessed with preserving a manuscript symbolising human history; explores madness and transcendence.
  • Seiobo There Below (2008): Interlinked stories on art and divinity across cultures; won the 2015 Man Booker International Prize.
  • Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (2016): Tragicomic portrait of post-communist moral decay; won the 2019 National Book Award (Translated Literature).

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