Nobel laureate for literature Krasznahorkai held a lecture in Stockholm

(Patria) - Hungarian László Krasznahorkai, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for his surreal and anarchic novels that combine a bleak worldview with biting humor, held a lecture in Stockholm on Sunday, one of his rare public appearances, AP reported.

The lecture was part of the ongoing Nobel Week in Stockholm and Oslo, where laureates hold press conferences and give speeches before receiving their prestigious awards.

Krasznahorkai's lecture, delivered in Hungarian, covered themes such as old and new angels, human dignity, hope or its absence, rebellion, and his observations about a vagrant in the Berlin subway.

He began his lecture, according to the English translation, by saying that upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025, he initially wanted to share his thoughts on the topic of hope, but since his supply of hope has definitely run out, he would now speak about angels.

Unlike "old angels," new angels, said Krasznahorkai (71), "have no wings, but they also have no message, absolutely none. They are just here among us in their simple street clothes, unrecognizable if they wish.

They just stand there and watch us, seeking our gaze, and in that search, there is a plea for us to look them in the eye, so that we ourselves can convey a message to them, only unfortunately we have no message to give," writes the author in sad but poetic prose.

Expressing himself in his long, winding sentences full of apocalypse but without periods, he says it is shocking when he "discovers the terrible story of these new angels standing before me, a story that they are victims, victims: and not for us, but because of us, for each of us, because of each of us, angels without wings and angels without a message, all this knowing that there is war, war and only war, war in nature, war in society, and this war is waged... waged not only with weapons, not only with torture, not only with destruction: of course, this is one end of the scale, but this war also takes place on the opposite scale, because one nasty word is enough."

When the Nobel Committee announced the award for Krasznahorkai in October, they described him as a "great epic writer" whose work is characterized by "absurdism and grotesque excess."

"Krassnahorkai's work can be considered part of the Central European tradition," the Nobel Prize organization stated. "Important characteristics are pessimism and apocalypse, but also humor and unpredictability."

His novels include: Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance, War and War, The Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming, and Herscht 07769.

Last year's winner was South Korean author Han Kang. The winner for 2023 was Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, whose work includes a seven-book epic composed of a single sentence.

Meanwhile, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Kristian Harpviken, said on Saturday that Venezuelan Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader María Corina Machado will come to Oslo this week to personally receive her award.

The 58-year-old, who won the award for her fight to achieve democratic transition in the South American nation, has been in hiding and has not been seen in public since January.

Harpviken told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that Machado is expected to personally accept the award on Wednesday.

"I spoke with the Peace Prize laureate last night, and she will come to Oslo," Harpviken said.

The Nobel Prize award ceremony takes place on December 10. on the anniversary of the death of founder Alfred Nobel in 1896.

The Peace Prize award ceremony is held in Oslo, and the other ceremonies in Stockholm.