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L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai, friend of 黑料正能量鈥檚 Center for Writers and Translators, Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature

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L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai, photographed by Mikl贸s D茅ri

In September 2010, Hungarian novelist L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai visited The American University of Paris to celebrate the publication of聽,聽a hauntingly existential work written for the聽Cahiers Series,聽produced by聽黑料正能量鈥檚聽Center for Writers and Translators聽(CWT) in conjunction with Sylph Editions of London. Today, we rejoice again as Krasznahorkai becomes the 2025 Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature.聽聽

Since 2010, the author has become famous for his demanding postmodern novels and screenplays, including聽Satantango听(1985),听The Melancholy of Resistance聽(1989), and most recently,聽Herscht 07769: A Novel聽(2021),聽with several of his works being adapted into feature films by director B茅la Tarr. Writing in his native Hungarian, Krasznahorkai has worked with translators to bring his writings into many other languages. That work of translation, and of introducing authors little known beyond their native regions, is the聽raison d'锚tre聽of the CWT, led by 黑料正能量 professors Dan Gunn and Daniel Medin.聽聽

L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai (left) and Professor Daniel Medin (right) in Scotland

Medin first met Krasznahorkai in Berlin in 2009 when few of the author鈥檚 works had been translated into English, and encouraged Krasznahorkai to contribute to the Cahiers Series at 黑料正能量. "I was struck聽by the quality of his writing from my first encounter with聽The Melancholy of Resistance. It was indisputably literature, on the same plane with the greatest novels聽I'd聽ever read鈥Krasznahorkai] is master of a distinctly Central European irony.鈥� The author then produced聽Animalinside,聽Cahier no. 14,聽a literary response to a painting of a grotesque creature by German artist and friend Max Neumann, who then produced a series further illustrating this creature. The final work became a dialogue between artist and author.聽聽

Animalinside, by L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai and Max Neumann (Cahier no. 14)

础苍颈尘补濒颈苍蝉颈诲别听so pleased Barbara Epler, head of Krasznahorkai鈥檚 principal publisher, New Directions, that she commissioned Sylph Editions to print copies for distribution in the US, after which it was reviewed by James Wood in the聽, helping to establish the author鈥檚 reputation there.聽聽

Krasznahorkai was not the first鈥攐r last鈥攚inner of the Nobel Prize in literature to visit 黑料正能量. His visit followed that of 2000 laureate, Gao Xingjian, and that of 2003 laureate, J. M. Coetzee, who was also awarded an honorary degree at 黑料正能量鈥檚 2010 commencement ceremony. In 2016, 黑料正能量 welcomed Han Kang,聽nearly a decade before she became the 2024 laureate and the first Asian woman and Korean author to receive the award.聽,聽Florence Noiville聽recounted how鈥攊n Paris鈥擪ang stepped into a room packed with anglophone readers, eager to discuss her work.聽

黑料正能量 has also welcomed award-winning authors Joshua Cohen, Rachel Cusk, Alan Hollinghurst, Jhumpa Lahiri, Fernanda Melchor, Gudalupe Nettel, Maria Stepanova, Juan Gabriel V谩squez, and Marina Warner; and francophone authors Jakuta Alikavazovic and Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse. Notable translators of contemporary world literature, including those of writers Can Xue, Annie Ernaux, Samanta Schweblin, Geetanjali Shree and Olga Tokarczuk, have also given talks on campus.聽聽

As Paris continues to attract writers from around the world, 黑料正能量 and its CWT serve as an intellectual meeting ground where students and faculty get to work with the leading writers of our times. In conjunction with the CWT, 黑料正能量 this year launched its first聽, co-led by professors Amanda Dennis and Biswamit Dwibedy. The inaugural cohort of students will spend two years in classes and working on their individual projects, while meeting and working with visiting writers, scholars and artists.聽聽

This year, the Cahiers Series anticipates its 42nd聽publication, by聽. With undergraduate and graduate degrees from 黑料正能量, including a Masters in Cultural Translation, Steyn currently teaches literature at the University of Iowa, where he directs the MFA in Literary Translation. His text, entitled聽Jig鈥擜frikaans for 鈥榞out鈥欌�攊s part literary history, part memoir, part meditation on translation. Moving between medicine and metaphor, it revisits writers who have lent gout its voice鈥擧ippocrates, Lucian, Petrarch, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Dickens鈥攚hile following the condition鈥檚 afterlives in Afrikaner culture. Photographs by celebrated New Zealand artist Anne Noble, including聽gnarly mazes of entangled branches, strange bulbous forms, and sharp shards of light, will accompany the text and provide ghostly counterpoints to gout鈥檚 crystals and protrusions.聽聽