Ben Lerner
Ben Lerner
Full Name and Common Aliases
Ben Lerner is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and translator born on October 16, 1971.
Birth and Death Dates
October 16, 1971 - present (still alive)
Nationality and Profession(s)
Nationality: American
Profession: Poet, Novelist, Essayist, Translator
Early Life and Background
Ben Lerner was born in Topeka, Kansas. He grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, where he developed an interest in poetry at a young age.
Lerner's family moved to Mexico City when he was 14 years old. This experience profoundly influenced his writing style and perspective on identity, politics, and culture.
He attended high school in Mexico City before returning to the United States for college.
Major Accomplishments
Academic Background: Lerner graduated from Brown University with a degree in Comparative Literature.
Awards and Honors:
Winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship
Finalist for the National Book Award
Literary Contributions: Lerner has published several critically acclaimed collections of poetry, including "The Lichtenberg Figures" (2004) and "Looking for Alaska" (2015). He has also written two novels: "Leaving the Atocha Station" (2011) and "10:04" (2014).Notable Works or Actions
Translations: Lerner has translated several works of poetry from Spanish into English, including Juan Luis Ortiz's "Alma en llamas" (2006).
Publications:
Poetry collections: "The Lichtenberg Figures" (2004), "Looking for Alaska" (2015)
Novels: "Leaving the Atocha Station" (2011), "10:04" (2014)Impact and Legacy
Ben Lerner's work is widely recognized for its innovative style, blending elements of poetry, fiction, and essay. His writing often explores themes of identity, politics, culture, and technology.
Lerner's literary contributions have significantly influenced contemporary American literature.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Originality: Lerner is known for pushing the boundaries of traditional forms in his writing.
Intellectual Curiosity: His work often reflects a deep engagement with philosophical, cultural, and scientific ideas.
Critical Acclaim: Lerner's novels and poetry collections have received widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards.
Ben Lerner's literary legacy is marked by his innovative style, intellectual curiosity, and commitment to exploring the complexities of modern life.
Quotes by Ben Lerner
Ben Lerner's insights on:
Laser technology has fulfilled our people’s ancient dream of a blade so fine that the person it cuts remains standing and alive until he moves and cleaves. Until we move, none of us can be sure that we have not already been cut in half, or in many pieces, by a blade of light. It is safest to assume that our throats have already been slit, that the slightest alteration in our postures will cause the painless severance of our heads.
The story and the poem are obviously changed by being placed in the novel, so in a sense they’re no longer the works that preceded the novel.
The language of poetry is the exact opposite of the language of mass media,” I said, meaninglessly.
I’ve been building a fiction in part around the Marfa poem since my brief residency there, which has kept it from receding into the past.
I’m defending fiction as a human capacity more than as a popular or dying literary genre.
How much easier it would be if when you played them slowly in reverse the lyrics really did, as some hysterical parents feared, reveal satanic messages; if there were a backmasked secret order, however dark, instead of rage at emptiness.
I think the parable is a peculiar way of saying that redemption is immanent whether or not it’s imminent, that the world to come is in a sense always already here, if still unavailable. I find this idea powerful for several reasons. For one thing, it’s an antidote to despair.
Henry James claim that if you want to be a novelist you should be somebody on whom nothing is lost.
My concern is how we live fictions, how fictions have real effects, become facts in that sense, and how our experience of the world changes depending on its arrangement into one narrative or another.