Nobel literature laureate delivers a rare public lecture

Hungary’s László Krasznahorkai muses on hope at awards week in Stockholm.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

THIS YEAR'S Nobel winner László Krasznahorkai speaks Sunday in Stockholm.

(CLAUDIO BRESCIANI TT News Agency)

Hungarian László Krasznahorkai, who won the Nobel Prize in literature for his lyrical novels that combine a bleak worldview with mordant humor, gave a lecture in Stockholm on Sunday in one of his rare public appearances.

The lecture was part of the Nobel week that is underway in Stockholm and Oslo with laureates holding news conferences and giving speeches before they are awarded the prestigious prizes.

Krasznahorkai’s lecture, which he gave in Hungarian, ranged across topics such as old and new angels, human dignity, hope or the lack thereof, rebellion and his observations of a clochard—or tramp — on the Berlin subway.

He introduced his lecture, according to the English translation, by saying that “on receiving the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, I originally wished to share my thought with you on the subject of hope, but as my stories of hope have definitely come to an end, I will now speak about angels.”