Laszlo Krasznahorkai, the Hungarian writer who won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, has a unique connection to Calcutta through publisher Seagull Books.
The Calcutta-based publishing house, founded in the early 1980s and known for bringing a wide range of European titles in translation to Indian readers, published Krasznahorkai’s only non-fiction work, Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens.
The book, based on Krasznahorkai’s journey through China at the dawn of the 21st century, was originally published in Hungarian in 2004 by Magveto Publishing in Budapest. Seagull Books acquired the worldwide English translation rights after contacting the author’s UK-based literary agent. The English version, translated exclusively for Seagull by Ottilie Mulzet, was first released in hardcover in 2016.
“Many congratulations to László Krasznahorkai for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature 2025! Congratulations also to New Directions, which has published his work consistently, and to translator Ottilie Mulzet, who has brought his most ferocious prose into English. Seagull Books is proud to have published Krasznahorkai’s only non-fiction work,” read a Facebook post by the publisher.
Bishan Samaddar, an editor at Seagull, explained the process: “We got Ottilie Mulzet, who lives in the Czech Republic and has translated many of Krasznahorkai’s works, to translate this book exclusively for us. We distribute it in the US, UK, India, and other countries.”
Samaddar was not editorially involved with this title, but he noted the increasing popularity of Krasznahorkai’s English translations following his 2015 Man Booker International Prize win. “The English translation became quite popular. We came out with a paperback edition in 2017, and the third edition is in stores now,” he said.
The book offers a unique perspective on China’s transformation at the turn of the century. “On the precipice of its emergence as a global power, China was experiencing cataclysms of modernity, as harsh Maoist legacies clashed with the chaotic flux of globalization,” Seagull’s description reads. Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens is both a travel memoir and an intellectual exploration of Asia’s cultures and their interactions with Europe in a newly globalised world.
Sunandini Banerjee, editor and designer of the English edition’s cover, told this newspaper: “Moving mobile prose, endless thoughts snaking their way out onto the page, lurching through tunnels of despair and emerging onto valleys of hope — Laszlo has a keen eye for detail and a deeply empathetic ear for what is said and unsaid. It was exhilarating to edit such a tour de force of linguistic mastery. I have much admiration for Mulzet’s rendition.”
Krasznahorkai, 71, is the second Hungarian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, after Imre Kertesz in 2002.