The Nobel Prize in Literature was on Thursday awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary’s most important living author whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.
The Swedish Academy honoured him “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Krasznahorkai, 71, is “a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque excess,” the jury said in a statement.
“But there are more strings to his bow, and he also looks to the East in adopting a more contemplative, finely calibrated tone.”
Krasznahorkai was among those mentioned as a possible winner in the run-up to the prize.
Last year, the award went to South Korean author Han Kang, the first Asian woman to win the Nobel.
The Academy has long been criticised for the overrepresentation of Western white men among its picks.
Women are vastly under-represented among its laureates — just 18 out of 122 since it was first awarded in 1901.
The Swedish Academy has undergone major reforms since a devastating #MeToo scandal in 2018, vowing a more global and gender-equal literature prize.
The Nobel Prize comes with a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2 million prize sum.
Krasznahorkai will receive the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.
