Laszlo Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature - where to start with his body of work

Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, with the Swedish Academy praising “a visionary body of work that transforms despair into transcendence".

At 70, Krasznahorkai is the first Hungarian writer to receive the prize since Imre Kertesz in 2002. His name has long circulated among critics as one of the most original in European fiction – a writer of vast, hypnotic sentences exploring dark and philosophical themes.

His work has gained prominence partially due to his collaborations with filmmaker Bela Tarr, who has adapted two of his works into acclaimed movies, and gained prominence internationally decades after publication once it began to be more widely translated.

While his work can be intimidating for new readers, it's certainly not impenetrable. Here's where to start with Krasznahorkai's body of work.

What to read first

Seiobo There Below (2013)

This is a collection of stories connected by themes of art and devotion. Moving between Kyoto, Florence and other centres of beauty, the tales follow artists and worshippers chasing perfection. It’s considered of his most luminous books and an ideal introduction to his rhythm.

“The winner of this week’s Man Booker International prize has an extraordinary intensity unsurpassed in English-language fiction,” said The Guardian at the time.

The Washington Post called it “a thoroughly satisfying artistic evolution… broadening his core obsession while expanding to encompass new locations and time periods".

The Melancholy of Resistance (1989)

A strange travelling circus arrives in a quiet Hungarian town, and ordinary life quickly unravels. The novel balances absurdity and dread with moments of unexpected warmth. More linear than some of his more ambitious work, but just as philosophically rich.

"The Melancholy of Resistance is a comedy of apocalypse,” said The New Yorker’s James Wood, praising its “extraordinary, stretched, self-recoiling sentences".

The masterpieces

Satantango (1985)

Krasznahorkai’s first novel and still his defining work. Set on a collapsing collective farm, it tells of betrayal, false prophecy and survival in a world without faith. The structure mirrors a tango’s steps forward and back – a cycle of ruin and renewal. It gained fame from Tarr's acclaimed seven-hour film adaptation in 1994.

Susan Sontag described Krasznahorkai as “the Hungarian master of the apocalypse", a label that has followed the book ever since.

War and War (1999)

An archivist becomes convinced that a manuscript he’s discovered can redeem humanity. His quest takes him from Hungary to New York, in a hallucinatory meditation on madness, history and transcendence.

“This is one of the most profoundly unsettling experiences I have had as a reader,” wrote Wood in The New Yorker. “By the end of the novel, I felt that I had got as close as literature could possibly take me to the inhabiting of another person.”

Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (2016)

A grand, late-career return to the provincial Hungary of his earlier books. When a disgraced baron comes home, the town spirals into absurdity. It’s long and layered, but many readers find it darkly funny, and a culmination of his vision.

"Krasznahorkai establishes his own rules and rides a wave of exhilarating energy in this sprawling, nonpareil novel,” said Publishers Weekly.

What to avoid (for now)

Chasing Homer (2021)

A slim experimental work that pairs its text with sound and illustrations. Seasoned readers say it works better when you're familiar with his voice.

A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South… (2018)

Set in Kyoto’s temple gardens, it follows a monk through quiet routines and reflections. It’s considered lyrical but almost plotless.

The Last Wolf / Herman (2017)

Two novellas about isolation and moral exhaustion. They show his mastery of tone but are more rewarding once you’ve adjusted to his style.