His early short stories prefigure the Nobel Prize-winning writing style he would later develop.

prefigure 由前缀 pre-（表示"在...之前"）和 figure（"形象、形状"）组成，字面意思是"预先描绘形象"。作为动词，表示"预示、预先展示"，指某种早期迹象暗示了未来的发展。