Krasznahorkai Year at ELTE

On September 18, Eötvös Loránd University will award an honorary doctorate to its former student, László Krasznahorkai. The award is the highlight of a year-long series of events honoring the Nobel Prize-winning writer. 

László Krasznahorkai graduated with a degree in Hungarian and folk culture from the Faculty of Humanities at Eötvös Loránd University in 1983, and now, more than four decades later, he is returning as an honorary doctor. His life's work is an important area of research for many of the faculty's lecturers, several of whom have personal connections with the writer.

To mark the writer's Nobel Prize, the University launched a year-long series of events last December, which will pay tribute to its former student with numerous events until the end of 2026. From February to May, the lecture series will examine László Krasznahorkai's works from the perspective of various academic disciplines, including media studies, philosophy, musicology, and literary studies. Most of the lectures, held on the third Tuesday of each month, will take place in the Faculty Council Room of ELTE BTK, with the music-themed event taking place in the Kodály Hall.

• February 17 András Bálint Kovács: The dignity of self-destruction. What did Tarr find in Krasznahorkai's works?

• March 17 Tamás Valastyán: From stuffed whales to new angels. On the anthropology of László Krasznahorkai 

  
  

• April 21 Tibor Pintér: A world out of tune In the melancholy of resistance. Andreas Werckmeister and György Eszter through the eyes of a musician

  
  

  Gyöngyvér Kovács: The rebellion of eclecticism. Péter Eötvös: Valuska

• May 19 Attila Ferenczi–József Krupp: From Hermes to Homer. Krasznahorkai and Antiquity

The Krasznahorkai Year continues with a special ceremony in the fall semester: on September 18, Eötvös Loránd University will award László Krasznahorkai an honorary doctorate.

As part of the program series, the university will also organize two professional conferences in the fall. In October, a public workshop-discussion will be held for translators of László Krasznahorkai's works, and in November, a two-day international literary studies conference in English will be held on his oeuvre.