Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai has won the Nobel Prize in literature for work that upholds the power of art in the midst of “apocalyptic terror.”

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, whose surreal and anarchic novels combine a bleak world view with mordant humor, won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for work the judges said upholds the power of art in the midst of “apocalyptic terror.”

The Nobel judges said the 71-year-old author, whose novels sometimes consist of just one long sentence, is “a great epic writer” whose work “is characterized by absurdism and grotesque excess.”

  • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    6 days ago

    Fun fact is most hungarians have never read him before. For some reason the translations of his works penetrated the west very well but in hungary it just never worked out.

    • Riddick3001OPEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      I myself haven’t read anything yet, but the article itself says;

      " Varga suggested readers new to Krasznahorkai’s work start with “Satantango,” his 1985 debut, which centered around the few remaining residents of a dying collective farm and set the tone for what was to follow."

      • Scotty@scribe.disroot.orgEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        Thanks.

        Just read a piece about Mr. Krasznahorkai by a Professor of literature. Among others, he writes:

        His language is the mad scream of a godless universe at our inexcusable squandering of every good thing given to us by chance. The voluble form stirs up the broken content in an irresistible current, flowing from the Big Bang to Paradise – right past our lost world.

        And:

        In his great tetralogy – Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance (1989), War and War (1999) and Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (2016) – some dark wickedness is approaching.

        Holy crap. I guess you should read that only if you are in good mood ;-)

        But I’ll give him a try.

        • Riddick3001OPEnglish
          2·
          5 days ago

          Holy crap. I guess you should read that only if you are in good mood ;-)

          Exactly,) It’s heavy duty stuff. It won’t work me atm, as I’m looking for hope. Though sometimes the bleak recognition might offer some people solace too.#