László Krasznahorkai ([ˈlaːsloː krɒsnɒhorkɒ.i]; born 5 January 1954) is a Hungarian novelist and screenwriter who is known for critically difficult, demanding postmodernist novels with dystopian and melancholic themes. Several of his works, notably his novels Satantango (Sátántangó) (1985) and The Melancholy of Resistance (Az ellenállás melankóliája) (1989) have been turned into feature films by Hungarian film director Bela Tarr.

Biographie

Early life and education
Krasznahorkai was born in Gyula in the Republic of Hungary on 5 January 1954. He is the son of Gyorgy Krasznahorkai, a lawyer, and Julia Palinkas, a social security administrator.

After completing his secondary education in 1972 at the Erkel Ferenc high school where he specialized in Latin, he studied law from 1973 to 1976 at József Attila University (JATE) (now the University of Szeged) and from 1976 to 1978 at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) (formerly the University of Budapest). After completing these law studies, he sought a degree in Hungarian language and literature from Eötvös Loránd University. As a requirement of his degree work, he submitted a formal thesis on the work and experiences of Hungarian writer and journalist Márai Sándor (1900–1989) after he fled Hungary in 1948 to escape the Communist regime that seized power after World War II (Sándor lived in exile in Italy and later San Diego, California). During his years as a university student in Budapest, Krasznahorkai worked at Gondolat Könyvkiadó, a publishing company. Krasznahorkai received his degree in 1983.


Career as writer
After completing his university studies, Krasznahorkai has supported himself as an independent author since then. When in 1985 his first major publication Satantango achieved success, he was immediately thrust into the forefront of Hungarian literary life.

He travelled outside of Communist Hungary for the first time in 1987, spending a year in West Berlin as a recipient of a DAAD fellowship. Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, he has lived in a variety of locations. He returns often to both Germany and Hungary, but he has also spent and spends varying lengths of time in France, Spain, the USA, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, China and Japan.

In 1993, his novel The Melancholy of Resistance received the German “Bestenliste-Prize” for the best literary work of the year. From the United States to Japan, critics have acknowledged the importance of his writing. According to Susan Sontag, he is “the contemporary Hungarian master of apocalypse who inspires comparison with Gogol and Melville”. W. G. Sebald had this to say: “The universality of Krasznahorkai's vision rivals that of Gogol's Dead Souls and far surpasses all the lesser concerns of contemporary writing.” In 1996, he was a guest of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. While completing the novel War and War, he travelled widely across Europe. The American poet Allen Ginsberg was of great assistance in completing the work; Krasznahorkai resided for some time in Ginsberg’s New York apartment, and the poet’s friendly advice was invaluable in bringing the book to life.

In 1990, for the first time, he was able to spend a longer period in East Asia. Krasznahorkai renders an account of his experiences in Mongolia and China in his works The Prisoner of Urga and Ruin and Sorrow beneath the Heavens. From this point, he has returned many times to China. In 1996, 2000 and 2005 he spent six months in Kyoto, Japan.

Since 1985, the renowned director and the author's good friend Béla Tarr has made films almost exclusively based on Krasznahorkai's works, including Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies. His collaboration with Tarr continues to this day: Krasznahorkai writes the screenplays, and assists the director in all important decisions.

Krasznahorkai has been honoured with numerous literary prizes, among them the highest award of the Hungarian state, the Kossuth Prize.


Personal life
After residing in Berlin, Germany for several years as the S. Fischer Guest Professor at the Free University of Berlin, Krasznahorkai currently resides "as a recluse in the hills of Szentlászló" in Hungary. After divorcing his first wife, Aniko Pelyhe whom he married in 1990, he married his second wife, Dora Kopcsanyi, a sinologist and graphic designer, in 1997. He has three children: Kata, Agnes and Panni.