Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins Nobel Prize in literature

By KOSTYA MANENKOV and MIKE CORDER, Associated Press

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, whose philosophical, bleakly funny novels often unfold in single sentences, won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for his for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”

Several works including his debut, “Satantango” and “The Melancholy of Resistance,” were turned into films by Hungarian director Béla Tarr.

The Nobel judges praised his “artistic gaze which is entirely free of illusion, and which sees through the fragility of the social order combined with his unwavering belief in the power of art.”

Krasznahorkai, 71, has received many awards including the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. The Booker judges praised his “extraordinary sentences, sentences of incredible length that go to incredible lengths, their tone switching from solemn to madcap to quizzical to desolate as they go their wayward way.”

He also won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the U.S. in 2019 for “Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming.”

He is the first winner from Hungary since Imre Kertesz in 2002. He joins an illustrious list of laureates that includes Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro.