‘Master of the apocalypse’: Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in literature

Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Swedish Academy described as a “compelling and visionary body of work that reaffirms the power of art amid apocalyptic terror.”

Announcing the award in Stockholm, the Academy praised Krasznahorkai as a major voice in the Central European literary tradition, drawing comparisons to Franz Kafka and Thomas Bernhard for his blend of absurdism, dark humor, and philosophical depth.

The committee noted that while his early works captured the bleakness of post-communist Europe, his later writings reflect an Eastern-inspired, contemplative tone shaped by his travels in China and Japan.

Krasznahorkai, born in the southeastern Hungarian town of Gyula, becomes the second Hungarian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature after Imre Kertész in 2002.

His literary breakthrough came in 1985 with “Satantango,” a haunting portrayal of life in a decaying Hungarian village on a failing collective farm, set against the backdrop of communism’s decline. The novel became a landmark in Hungarian literature and was later adapted into a celebrated seven-hour film by Béla Tarr.

The Academy also recalled that American author Susan Sontag once called Krasznahorkai the “master of the apocalypse” after reading his novel “The Melancholy of Resistance.”