Hungary’s László Krasznahorkai wins Nobel literature prize

{"text":[[{"start":7.78,"text":"The Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, known for his postmodern, dystopian novels, has won the 2025 Nobel Prize for literature."}],[{"start":18.36,"text":"The 71-year-old was recognised for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that in the midst of apocalyptic terror reaffirms the power of art”, the Nobel committee said on Thursday."}],[{"start":31.45,"text":"The committee described Krasznahorkai as “a great epic writer in the central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque excess. But there are more strings to his bow, and he also looks to the East in adopting a more contemplative, finely calibrated tone”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":53.08,"text":"Steve Sem-Sandberg, one of the Nobel committee members, highlighted the “extraordinary literary vitality” of Krasznahorkai’s works that are noted for extremely long sentences and multiple shifts in tone, from the comical to the desolate, with the form “mirroring the nature of reality”."}],[{"start":72.88,"text":"Krasznahorkai yesterday said he was “deeply glad” to have received the prize, adding: “Above all because this award proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read.”"}],[{"start":88.81,"text":"His first novel Satantango — described by Sem-Sandberg as “magnificent” — was published in 1985 before the fall of communism. Set in an impoverished village isolated from the rest of the world, it explores themes of power and coercion. Written from multiple perspectives with chapters made up of single paragraphs, the book was later made into a seven-hour film."}],[{"start":116,"text":"Subsequent works include Seiobo There Below (2008) and A Mountain to the North (published in English in 2023) that tells the tale of a quest to find a hidden garden and which was described by the FT’s reviewer as “by turns beguiling dream and elusive allegory”."}],[{"start":138.78,"text":"His latest novel, Zsömle odavan (Zsomle is Waiting), published in Hungary last year, has been described as a grotesque and satirical novel that tells the story of a retired electrician who is actually a descendant of King Béla IV and Genghis Khan and has a claim to the Hungarian throne."}],[{"start":158.61,"text":"The American writer and critic Susan Sontag once described Krasznahorkai, who cites Kafka as an inspiration, as the “master of the apocalypse”. Sem-Sandberg said that Krasznahorkai was now “more in tune with the times” than before."}],[{"start":177.39000000000001,"text":"Krasznahorkai has received numerous literary prizes, including the 2015 Man Booker International, when the award was given for an author’s life work, rather than a single book."}],[{"start":190.48000000000002,"text":"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán congratulated the author, declaring him to be “the pride of Hungary”, and, in a nod to Krasznahorkai’s birthplace in a small town on the Great Hungarian Plain bordering Romania, “the first Nobel Prize winner from Gyula”."}],[{"start":208.87,"text":"But Krasznahorkai, the second Hungarian author after Imre Kertész to be awarded the Nobel, has criticised Orbán’s government, particularly over its lack of support for Ukraine."}],[{"start":221.91,"text":"“Hungary is a neighbouring country of Ukraine, and the Orbán regime is taking an unprecedented stance,” Krasznahorkai told the Yale Review earlier this year. “The world is starting to get used to it. I cannot get used to it.”"}],[{"start":237.9,"text":"The literature prize, which comes with prize money of SKr11mn ($1.2mn), is the fourth of the Swedish Academy’s six annual Nobels that are being announced on successive weekdays. The winners of the peace and economics prizes follow on Friday and Monday."}],[{"start":266.53000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1760053873_7199.mp3"}