[HN Gopher] Nobel Prize in Literature 2025: Laszlo Krasznahorkai
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Nobel Prize in Literature 2025: Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Author : PikelEmi
Score : 199 points
Date : 2025-10-09 12:54 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nobelprize.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nobelprize.org)
| jelsisi wrote:
| Just a one sentence description? When all other categories this
| week got a detailed essay on what they discovered?
| haunter wrote:
| He got the biography too
| https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2025/bio-biblio...
| pkkim wrote:
| If it's Krasznahorkai we're talking about, one sentence could
| be very long indeed.
| haunter wrote:
| You can't mention Krasznahorkai without Bela Tarr. Tarr's main
| filmography is basically Krasznahorkai's main bibliography:
| Damnation (1988), Satantango (1994), Werckmeister Harmonies
| (2000), The Man from London (2007), The Turin Horse (2011). I
| honestly say the films from Tarr are arguably the best book-to-
| film adaptations ever, especially Satantango, he is the master of
| literary filmmaking where the spirit of text comes across the
| screen perfectly.
| BryantD wrote:
| It is not easy to commit seven hours to a single movie; for me,
| Satantango was worth it. Warm up on Werckmeister Harmonies
| which is a short two hours since Bela Tarr isn't and doesn't
| need to be for everyone. That said, Satantango is in my top
| four movies of all time because of how well it reflects
| humanity and how much it says about how we interact with each
| other. (The cows are a metaphor for HN, obviously.)
| jklinger410 wrote:
| Yes, Satantango is quite the experience. Seven hour
| investment for one film, and I actually want to do it again.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| Try Out 1: Noli Me Tangere at 14 hours
|
| Satantango was screened with a full dinner break in the
| middle (long enough to see another movie in the interim)
| when I saw it, but this one I went to had to be spread out
| over two days
| BryantD wrote:
| Same here. I've been dedicating New Year's Day to a long
| movie for a few years now --- Trenque Lauquen last year ---
| and the habit is working out quite well.
| towolf wrote:
| > I honestly say the films from Tarr are arguably the best
| book-to-film adaptations ever, especially Satantango, he is the
| master of literary filmmaking where the spirit of text comes
| across the screen perfectly.
|
| If that is so, then these are books that you read to experience
| ultimate ennui?
|
| I know the films, I've watched them all, but doing e.g.
| Satantango in book form sounds not so enticing?
| xhevahir wrote:
| "Doing Satantango in book form?" The book is the original.
| kkukshtel wrote:
| They truly feel like a match made in heaven. Krasznahorkai's
| own writing is lovely and lyrical, and Tarr's interpretation of
| it projects the same ideas onto the films but also in a way
| that makes it stand distinct as a medium.
|
| I could watch this scene from Werckmeister Harmonies every day
| for the rest of my life:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d5X2t_s9g8
|
| And The Turin Horse as well:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wPCkjN3n6s
|
| Think of some magical Tarr adaptation of Seiobo There Below...
| mrsvanwinkle wrote:
| Thank you so much to you and original commenter for the
| passionate rec.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| Try to see Tarr's movies on film. Except for the last
| couple that got Bluray releases there are only horrible
| quality DVDs available. But they come around on 35mm in
| cities like NY somewhat routinely.
|
| When Turin Horse came out I saw it at the NYFF (with an
| hour long talk in a small room with the director) and then
| another 3 times in theaters afterward. I've been lucky to
| catch Satantango and Werckmeister on film.
|
| Tarr also mentored a young Chinese director, Hu Bo. His two
| works are very good: An Elephant Sitting Still and Man in
| the Well. Tarr came out to TIFF to introduce and eulogize
| the latter with an impassioned speech.
|
| edit: Forgot that Criterion finally released a new edition
| of Werckmeister recently.
| squidsoup wrote:
| > Krasznahorkai's own writing is lovely and lyrical
|
| I would describe his writing style as relentlessly
| oppressive, and hypnotic.
| kalap_ur wrote:
| oh wow, i sense a bojler elado, here.
| moralestapia wrote:
| >Satantango
|
| >Running time: ~8 hours
|
| Yeah, I'll pass.
| squidsoup wrote:
| Ironically, I think Satantango might be one of Kraznahorkai's
| shortest novels.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| How many Netflix series have you ever binged?
| moralestapia wrote:
| I don't know, a couple.
|
| What does that have to do with this?
| xhevahir wrote:
| I've loved those novels of his that I've read, particularly War
| & War, and haven't watched a single one of those films.
| Krasznahorkai's work stands on its own perfectly fine.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| You shouldn't dismiss them - they are not only adaptations,
| their screenplays were written by Krasznahorkai and he
| collaborated with their production.
|
| Turin Horse is an original work by Krasznahorkai without
| being an adaptation, too. (I've seen that one 7 or 8 times, 4
| during its festival & cinema run.)
|
| To dismiss them would be like to dismiss his works with Max
| Neumann (AnimalInside being one of his best!) because they
| combine writing with painting instead of being pure
| literature.
| squidsoup wrote:
| In a similar vein, the novelist/film maker collaboration
| between Kobo Abe and Hiroshi Teshigahara was very fruitful, and
| produced some beautiful films.
| TheAceOfHearts wrote:
| I've never heard of them. Does anyone have a top suggestion for
| checking out his works or standout book? And for those of you
| that have read him, what did you get out the experience? Should I
| just read Satantango?
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| Satantango or the melancholy of resistance are good places to
| start. His books aren't all the same but there are some
| qualities they all share.
|
| They're intricate, reference-heavy, postmodern novels with a
| lot of the emotional intensity purposely occulted behind the
| prose style. If you like Gass or Sebald you'll have fun.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| His recent works are also incredible and very different from
| the early works. Try Seiobo There Below.
|
| You can also appreciate him through his screenplay work on
| Bela Tarr's movies.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| Oh good to know, I actually haven't read anything of his
| since war and war. Not for any particular reason, just
| there are a lot of books.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| I also recommend the illustrated novella AnimalInside but
| you'll need to find a PDF, just found out only 2000 were
| printed and my copy goes for $300 now :0
|
| Do you have a GoodReads that you'd share?
| jaccarmac wrote:
| I've loved all of the work I've read except Satantango, so if
| you bounce of that novel I would recommend the rest. That said,
| I started with the short story collection The World Goes On and
| thought it was brilliant.
| redbell wrote:
| A little bit of history..
|
| In 1974, The Swedish Academy was heavily criticized for awarding
| the Nobel Prize in Literature to two of its own members. One
| laureate, Harry Martinson, was so shaken by the backlash he
| committed suicide 4 years later.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Martinson#Later_life_and...
| jacquesm wrote:
| That has absolutely nothing to do with this article.
| ctxc wrote:
| That's sad. It says post humusly he was celebrated as the
| greatest writer after August someone.
|
| But what's the point, he was gone .-.
| b2ccb2 wrote:
| I am a bit confused as to why he was chosen. Not to diminish his
| tremendous body of work, but rather by the definition of the
| rules laid down by Alfred Nobel in his will:
|
| "All of my remaining realisable assets are to be disbursed as
| follows: the capital, converted to safe securities by my
| executors, is to constitute a fund, the interest on which is to
| be distributed annually as prizes to those who, during the
| _preceding year_ , have _conferred the greatest benefit to
| humankind_ ... one part to the person who, in the field of
| literature, produced the most outstanding work in an ideal
| direction; "
|
| Has anyone any insight on this?
|
| https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/full-text-of-alfred-...
| MLR wrote:
| That's not the basis the award is decided on, I presume it may
| have been in the early years of the award, but generally it's
| given as a lifetime achievement kind of thing - the recipients
| are often decades removed from their most influential work.
| pavlov wrote:
| The Nobel Prize in all fields has become an award for lifetime
| achievement, even though the wording of Nobel's will could also
| be interpreted as meaning that it should be awarded for work
| that had the greatest impact during the preceding year.
| simonh wrote:
| I don't know, but I suspect the interpretation is that the
| impact should be during the preceding year, the wording
| doesn't say the work has to occur in the preceding year. So
| arguably the work could have been decades ago, but if the
| impact has only recently become apparent that counts.
|
| I think that's fine. Often it's not really possible to assess
| the impact of a contribution until long after, it takes a lot
| of context to be able to do that.
| justonceokay wrote:
| I don't think we should consider too strictly the intention
| of someone who has been dead for 130 years.
| kzrdude wrote:
| Strangely enough though, there is a conflict around the
| foundation managing Hilma af Klint's art collection and
| they are now trying to change how the works are displayed
| and loaned based on stricter interpretations of her
| words.
| stevenwoo wrote:
| This is a sensible and reasonable proposition, which is
| ironic considering the USA is run based on
| interpretations of intentions of slave owners or those
| copacetic with slavery who have been dead for almost
| twice as long.
| pavlov wrote:
| Conveniently those interpretations can be whatever suits
| the current lifetime-appointed guardians of the sacred
| legal text. It helps that the text is old and originally
| ambiguous.
|
| When Napoleon seized power in 1799, he crafted a French
| constitution that he wanted to be "short and obscure",
| the better to enable his authoritarian power. The United
| States has ended in the same place.
| reliabilityguy wrote:
| > When Napoleon seized power in 1799, he crafted a French
| constitution that he wanted to be "short and obscure",
| the better to enable his authoritarian power. The United
| States has ended in the same place.
|
| What is "obscure" in the US constitution?
|
| The first amendment is the one thing that makes it
| impossible for authoritarian US to be reality.
| watwut wrote:
| Authoritarian US is becoming the reality right now and
| the first amendment provides exactly zero protection. We
| are watching US constitution collapse right now.
|
| Second, its meaning IS obscure. It get reinterpreted and
| modified by supreme court to unrecognizable degree. The
| words dont mean what they used to mean back then, because
| court used some alternative history to achieve their
| political goal. It is also not like the court was
| grounded in contemporary reality when making those
| decisions and explaining them.
|
| Most of constitutional protections are weak. There is no
| recourse if your rights are broken, only ever increasing
| maze of special conditions and requirements you need to
| fill if you want those protections to apply.
| reliabilityguy wrote:
| > Authoritarian US is becoming the reality right now and
| the first amendment provides exactly zero protection.
|
| Well, this is not true. As a matter of fact, you can talk
| about it without fear that you would be arrested for your
| speech. In real authoritarian regimes, e.g., Jordan,
| Qatar, China, Russia (de jure protections exist, de facto
| not so much) you have no protections at all. In those
| places speaking out means you end up in jail.
|
| > We are watching US constitution collapse right now.
|
| Can you give an example?
|
| > Second, its meaning IS obscure. It get reinterpreted
| and modified by supreme court to unrecognizable degree.
|
| What article do you think was interpreted to
| unrecognizable degree?
|
| > The words dont mean what they used to mean back then,
| because court used some alternative history to achieve
| their political goal.
|
| Can you provide an example for that as well?
|
| > It is also not like the court was grounded in
| contemporary reality when making those decisions and
| explaining them.
|
| I think this is the case with all the precedent-based
| judicial systems, no?
|
| > Most of constitutional protections are weak. There is
| no recourse if your rights are broken, only ever
| increasing maze of special conditions and requirements
| you need to fill if you want those protections to apply.
|
| In order to argue about that you would have to be
| specific. It seems to me that the constitutional
| protections are the only ones that actually work, e.g.,
| 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th amendments are really powerful,
| and go without saying.
| zeroonetwothree wrote:
| France has had something like 16 constitutions since
| 1791. I think I'll take the US model.
| rzzzt wrote:
| Which has 27 merged PRs in its git repository.
| simonh wrote:
| Which is basically a cut-and-paste of the British
| constitutional model of the 1780s, but with an elected
| King George III and upper house. Presidents are just
| elected kings. The modern parliamentary model is much
| better.
| nautilius wrote:
| Sure, stick to the Model T, why not. It had wheels and
| seats, so there's that.
| madcaptenor wrote:
| The Nobel Prize hasn't been a prize for work done in the
| previous year in a long time. This originates in the science
| prizes because some prizes were given to discoveries that were
| later discredited. But even the literature prize is generally
| given in honor of a body of work. And if you look at the list
| on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laure
| ates_in_Lit...), even those who are cited for a particular work
| (which was mostly in the first half of the 20th century) didn't
| get the prize for some time after that work. I suspect there
| was the same idea that the work needed to be one recognized to
| have lasting literary value.
| ajkjk wrote:
| I'm curious about the moral underlying an objection like this.
| Why do you care about whether the prize exactly reflects his
| will? And why specifically for this prize, when your objection
| has applied for most of a century across every field?
| b2ccb2 wrote:
| It was a genuine question, I have no objections. I am rather
| illiterate about the Nobel Prize, it just caught my attention
| this year. I just noticed a discrepancy after checking the
| body of his work after reading the will. That's all.
| astrange wrote:
| There's actually a second issue with the Literature prize,
| which is that it's supposed to be given for work "in an
| idealistic direction", but nobody knows what that means.
|
| And since the literature committee tends to be run by
| extremely pretentious artists they don't like idealism
| anyway. Artists are supposed to be tortured postmodern
| souls you know.
|
| A lot of people want Haruki Murakami to get the prize, but
| I don't think his work would pass this.
| gnfargbl wrote:
| I don't see a requirement that the work was created or released
| during the preceding year, only that it conferred benefit to
| humankind during that time. Presumably the argument is that
| Nobel-worthy acts continue to confer benefit for long periods.
| InitialLastName wrote:
| Off-topic, but reading that will is a fascinating study in
| 19th-century international economics: In the initial outlays, I
| count 5 different currencies (crowns, francs, florins, dollars,
| marks). I don't think anyone now would bequest cash in anything
| other than their native currency (to be converted by the heir).
| krasznahorkai wrote:
| I knew it would happen eventually! I've been waiting for his
| award. Long time fan. My favorite is War and War (Haboru es
| haboru) because the confusion of the world and the endless
| struggle of trying to be understood represented so well.
| Maro wrote:
| We're on fire!
|
| 2025 - Laszlo Krasznahorkai - Literature - for his compelling and
| visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror,
| reaffirms the power of art.
|
| 2023 - Katalin Kariko - Physiology or Medicine - for their
| discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled
| the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
|
| 2023 - Ferenc Krausz - Physics - for experimental methods that
| generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron
| dynamics in matter.
|
| To be fair, there are only 2 others since 2000.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hungarian_Nobel_laurea...
| madcaptenor wrote:
| Hungary is a relatively small country, so that's quite
| impressive!
| bobcostas55 wrote:
| "The Atomic Bomb Considered As Hungarian High School Science
| Fair Project"
|
| https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/26/the-atomic-bomb-
| consid...
| czhu12 wrote:
| This was one of the most fascinating things I've read all
| year. Thank you for posting
| mihaaly wrote:
| It is difficult to say 'we' here for me, when the common ground
| with these remarkable people are only the country of origin and
| most of the time the language spoken. Also when it is based on
| achievements that are mostly theirs, which I have nothing to do
| with.
|
| I am glad that these people could achive so much coming from a
| place like Hungary, that is providing inadequate possibilities
| for these kinds of achivements so they reach it in other
| countries too many times. Or sometimes even put obstacles in
| their ways - which is actually good/ok in the end as they seek
| out the places allowing their success.
|
| But I am glad for any Nobel price winners, regardless of their
| origins. They give us so much.
| Maro wrote:
| Ferenc Krausz has almost the same degrees as me: ELTE
| Physics, BME EEng/Comp.Sci.
|
| Katalin Kariko went to the same University as my sister
| (Szeged).
|
| But yes, we have to leave the country if we want good
| opportunities.. unless we go into politics! Fidesz is easily
| the most successful startup in Hungary after 1989, possibly
| in Europe; Fidesz' CEO is one of the richest men in Europe..
| unfortunately at our expense.
| spicymaki wrote:
| Agreed, I do understand the sentiment of when someone of your
| tribe does something great you feel great sentiment, but it
| can lead to zero sum thinking which is counterproductive. I
| am pleased that every year we celebrate the achievements of
| humanity.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| It can also lead to healthy competition.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| He's my favorite working author! (Well, maybe that's Pynchon)
|
| I recommend not only his early works like Satantango but also his
| recent ones like Seiobo There Below (lucky to have a signed copy
| of this one).
|
| The short ones are interesting too. Animalinside (with Max
| Neumann), The Last Wolf.
|
| Interested in checking Chasing Homer which has musical
| accompaniment: "Publishers Weekly described the book as a cross
| between a Jean-Claude Van Damme film and the works of Samuel
| Beckett and Franz Kafka"
| slibhb wrote:
| Seiobo There Below was really hard to get through. Earlier
| stuff is much less so.
| lanfeust6 wrote:
| Should I start with Satantango?
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| Sure, it's a fine place to start
|
| You might also try A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the
| South, Paths to the West, a River to the East as a very short
| one of his later works
|
| Wow I just found out that I have quite a valuable collection
| of his works - the surprisingly expensive ones that I had
| casually picked up when they were new:
|
| - The Last Wolf 1st edition, $300
|
| - Satantango 1st edition, $200
|
| - Music & Literature No. 2, unknown value (no record of
| secondary market resale)
|
| - AnimalInside, $300, only 2000 copies published
|
| Time to encase these in something...
| prinny_ wrote:
| The melancholy of resistance is a book that shaped my
| understanding of conflict and apathy. I am happy this man got the
| Nobel, he is a tremendous writer.
| derbOac wrote:
| Can anyone comment on the translations of Krasznahorkai's works
| into English?
|
| Every time I read a translation of highly regarded literature I
| can't help but wonder if I'm getting some inadequate rendition
| that is missing something critical to why the originals are so
| highly regarded. This isn't meant to be a criticism of
| translators, just that I think their job is very difficult.
|
| Of course, I still happily read and enjoy translations; there's
| just this shadow cast for me all the time by the originals.
| seizethecheese wrote:
| His works were in Hungarian. If we are being honest, he
| probably won the Nobel for his translated works as much as his
| originals. Or, how many Nobel committee members are fluent in
| Hungarian?
| kruffalon wrote:
| For me this is todays new conceptual thought!
|
| Or something like this, just trying to express that I've
| never really thought about it like that. That we don't really
| interact with original works when we read/listen to
| translated works and thus we can't really say anything about
| the originals.
|
| Small mind blown moment!
| jaccarmac wrote:
| I'm biased because I lived down the street from a bookstore
| connected to a translation publishing house, but I can't
| recommend translated fiction enough for opening one's eyes
| to the weird relationship between a person, their language,
| and the works they read.
| squidsoup wrote:
| The Hungarian poet George Szirtes, with no prior translation
| experience, translated his first two novels, over a period of
| many years. I can't speak Hungarian, but both the Melancholy of
| Resistance and Satantango remain my favourite novels of his,
| and I think I can partially attribute that to Szirtes's
| translations.
| more_corn wrote:
| Could have sworn the Nobel for fiction was going to go to RFK jr.
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