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Discurso en la entrega del premio Nobel de Literatura 2025
Elhangzott 2025. december 7-én, a Svéd Királyi Akadémia ünnepi ülésén. A Svéd Királyi Akadémia az irodalmi Nobel-díjat 2025-ben Krasznahorkai László magyar írónak ítélte oda "meggyőző és látnoki életművéért, amely az apokaliptikus terror közepette is igazolja a művészet erejét".
- GenresNonfiction
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2025
3 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
László Krasznahorkai
47 books3,244 followersLászló Krasznahorkai is a Hungarian novelist and screenwriter who is known for critically difficult and demanding novels, often labelled as postmodern, with dystopian and bleak melancholic themes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2025.
He is probably best known through the oeuvre of the director Béla Tarr, who has collaborated with him on several movies.
Apart from the Nobel Prize, Krasznahorkai has also been honored with numerous literary prizes, among them the highest award of the Hungarian state, the Kossuth Prize, and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize for his English-translated oeuvre.
He is probably best known through the oeuvre of the director Béla Tarr, who has collaborated with him on several movies.
Apart from the Nobel Prize, Krasznahorkai has also been honored with numerous literary prizes, among them the highest award of the Hungarian state, the Kossuth Prize, and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize for his English-translated oeuvre.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 5, 2026
Megszakítottam egy fél órára Bodor Ádám összegyűjtött novelláinak olvasását, hogy bedaráljam Krasznahorkai stockholmi beszédét. És közben azon gondolkodtam, milyen szerencsés vagyok. Úgy értem, lövésem sincs, Dúró Dóra vagy Kövér László szerint pontosan miért is jó magyarnak lenni. Szerintem azért, mert az ember eredeti nyelven Bodort olvashat, majd megszakíthatja, hogy Krasznahorkait olvasson, ugyancsak eredeti nyelven. Gyanítom, Dúró és Kövér nem ezért szeret magyarnak lenni. De akkor miért?
A remény elfogyott, de angyalok vannak, állítja Krasznahorkai. A reményt illetően nem nyilatkoznék, de az angyalokról eszembe jutott valami. Egy metafora. Hogy ezek a szárnyatlan angyalok, akikről Krasznahorkai beszél, talán épp a nagy írók, akik közöttünk járnak-kelnek. Nem ismeri fel őket a sarki zöldséges, se a BKV-ellenőr, de mi, akiket az irodalom kiválasztott magának, igen. És mi azt is tudjuk, hogy ezek az angyalok a Paradicsom építészmérnökei. Szavakból hozzák létre a mennyei tereket, ahol huriktól övezve megpihenhetünk, szánkba mézédes szőlőszemek hullanak, miegymás. Köszönet érte.
És most megyek vissza a Bodor-kötetbe. De jó nekem.
A remény elfogyott, de angyalok vannak, állítja Krasznahorkai. A reményt illetően nem nyilatkoznék, de az angyalokról eszembe jutott valami. Egy metafora. Hogy ezek a szárnyatlan angyalok, akikről Krasznahorkai beszél, talán épp a nagy írók, akik közöttünk járnak-kelnek. Nem ismeri fel őket a sarki zöldséges, se a BKV-ellenőr, de mi, akiket az irodalom kiválasztott magának, igen. És mi azt is tudjuk, hogy ezek az angyalok a Paradicsom építészmérnökei. Szavakból hozzák létre a mennyei tereket, ahol huriktól övezve megpihenhetünk, szánkba mézédes szőlőszemek hullanak, miegymás. Köszönet érte.
És most megyek vissza a Bodor-kötetbe. De jó nekem.
January 3, 2026
Krasznahorkai's Stockholm lecture is a masterpiece in its own right, with intertextual echoes of his entire ouevre. The unknown narrator of the tripartite lecture in The Universal Theseus inhabits the author himself who, by never getting off the train, becomes the elusive grandson of Prince Genji, the protagonist of the wonderful and luminous A Mountain from the North.
The key themes of melancholy, revolt, and possession from The Universal Theseus are expanded here, in a different order: a melancholy portrait of angels in street clothes is followed by a terrific summary account of humanity's possession, its own history, and then by an expectation of revolt.
By a linguistic touch perhaps unintended but just as masterful and inspiring, the whole of humanity and humanity's search for meaning are placed in a metaphysical context that I found simply extraordinary in its subtlety: we are all, just as the author or narrator of the Nobel lecture, en route from Kreuzberg ["Mount of the Cross"] to Ruhleben ["restful life"]. Of course, no station is worth getting off at.
The key themes of melancholy, revolt, and possession from The Universal Theseus are expanded here, in a different order: a melancholy portrait of angels in street clothes is followed by a terrific summary account of humanity's possession, its own history, and then by an expectation of revolt.
By a linguistic touch perhaps unintended but just as masterful and inspiring, the whole of humanity and humanity's search for meaning are placed in a metaphysical context that I found simply extraordinary in its subtlety: we are all, just as the author or narrator of the Nobel lecture, en route from Kreuzberg ["Mount of the Cross"] to Ruhleben ["restful life"]. Of course, no station is worth getting off at.
April 29, 2026
Súper sugerente y muy bien escrito. Por el título, esperaba otra cosa. Tal vez hubiera estado mejor titularlo "Sobre los ángeles, la dignidad humana y la rebeldía". Creo que el autor se pierde un poco en su laberinto, pero da gusto verle perderse así.
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April 24, 2026From divinity to evolution via basic human instincts (micturation and necrophagy) to dignity, compassion and rebellion.
Angels no longer have wings and seemingly for Krasznahorkai his ‘stores of hope have ‘definitively’ come to an end,’.
‘Ben Reads Good’s’ vlog recently looked at the International Booker longlist and ranked them according to their first sentences, different, amusing, so I’m now looking at first sentences with heightened curiosity - the first sentence here goes on for 14 pages - to a degree it’s an affectation used by many writers, particularly modernists from Joyce through Beckett to Thomas Bernhard and all too easily achieved by the (obsessive) use of conjunctions, dashes, commas etc. - but here are just the first few words as to give the sentence entire would be a copyright contravention:
‘I walk around up and down and I’m thinking about angels,’.
I wondered if the Nobel prize audience laughed, or fidgeted unsure how to receive this seeming parable on hope and rebellion that concludes in a magnetic equilibrium between a clochard and a policeman ‘all because of ten meters’ which is reminiscent of a Laurel and Hardy escapade or a Beckett absurdity à la Vladimir and Estragon. No, all is quiet and respectful. But there’s also something quasi-religious in the void established in perpetuity ‘between good & evil’.
The lecture is translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet, one of Lásló Krasznahorkai’s primary translators - she was born in Toronto in 1960. The speech was given in Hungarian by Lásló of course and immediately followed by a young woman in English. If this is a translation of what we’ve just heard in an ‘unknown language’ it is not the Nobel lecture as here printed but something quite different.
Angels no longer have wings and seemingly for Krasznahorkai his ‘stores of hope have ‘definitively’ come to an end,’.
‘Ben Reads Good’s’ vlog recently looked at the International Booker longlist and ranked them according to their first sentences, different, amusing, so I’m now looking at first sentences with heightened curiosity - the first sentence here goes on for 14 pages - to a degree it’s an affectation used by many writers, particularly modernists from Joyce through Beckett to Thomas Bernhard and all too easily achieved by the (obsessive) use of conjunctions, dashes, commas etc. - but here are just the first few words as to give the sentence entire would be a copyright contravention:
‘I walk around up and down and I’m thinking about angels,’.
I wondered if the Nobel prize audience laughed, or fidgeted unsure how to receive this seeming parable on hope and rebellion that concludes in a magnetic equilibrium between a clochard and a policeman ‘all because of ten meters’ which is reminiscent of a Laurel and Hardy escapade or a Beckett absurdity à la Vladimir and Estragon. No, all is quiet and respectful. But there’s also something quasi-religious in the void established in perpetuity ‘between good & evil’.
The lecture is translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet, one of Lásló Krasznahorkai’s primary translators - she was born in Toronto in 1960. The speech was given in Hungarian by Lásló of course and immediately followed by a young woman in English. If this is a translation of what we’ve just heard in an ‘unknown language’ it is not the Nobel lecture as here printed but something quite different.
April 16, 2026
It feels like a speech mostly about nothing. Krasznahorkai is really frustrating to me as a reader. His style and subject matter feel like they should work great for me, but everything I have touched of his has just not been great.
May 4, 2026
So glad one of my favourite living writers won the Nobel prize for Literature, didn't think it was gonna happen. This is the speech he gave, which is true to form, not too many writers could get away with something like this.
April 17, 2026
I never know what to think after reading Krasznahorkai. I'll never stop trying...
May 1, 2026
Not at all sure what I just read - too esoteric for my simple mind.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews