Lerner makes seamless shifts between fiction and nonfiction, prose and lyric verse, memoir and cultural criticism, conveying the way in which politics, art, and economics. Ben lerner is an american poet, novelist, and critic. No art poetry, fiction, criticism, fiction, poetry youtube. Inevitably ben lerners slim book the hatred of poetry begins with the opening salvo from marianne moores 1967 poem poetry, which conveyed in four crisp, if. He is a courageous, immensely intelligent artist who panders to no one and yet is. The lichtenberg figures won the hayden carruth award, was a lannan literary selection, and was named one of the best poetry books of the year by the library journal. Jan 21, 2020 ben lerner is the author of three books of poetry and was named a finalist for the national book award for his second book, angle of yaw. The hatred of poetry by ben lerner, paperback barnes. Ben lerners poem, dilation will also be appearing in the next issue of granta, medicine. Nov 05, 2019 the topeka school by ben lerner is published by granta. We talk to awardwinning poet, novelist and academic ben lerner upon publication of his new book no art making available for the first time in the uk his previous three collections of poetry. Ten minutes into our first class i flipped open my schedule to double check that i had not, in fact, accidently stepped into a graduate course.
The author of the topeka school, winner of the 2019 times book prize for fiction, speaks on poetry, debate, citizenship and crisis homeschooling. Ben lerner lerner is the author of three poetry collections. We talk to awardwinning poet, novelist and academic ben lerner upon publication of his new book no art making available for the first. I, too, dislike it and have largely organized my life around it and do not experience that as a contradiction because poetry and the hatred of poetry are inextricable in ways it is my. Angle of yaw 2006, which was a finalist for the national book. In 2004, library journal named it one of the years twelve best books of poetry. Book prize fiction winner ben lerner on the topeka school. Reading them, you sometimes suspect they dont want to be novels. Each sentence of the hatred of poetry vibrates with uncommon and graceful lucidity. He holds degrees from brown university, cofounded no.
Ben lerner was born in topeka, kansas, on february 4, 1979. Ben lerner farrar, straus and giroux fsg originals. Ben lerner is the author of three books of poetry and was named a finalist for the national book award for his second book, angle of yaw. Apr 17, 2020 the author of the topeka school, winner of the 2019 times book prize for fiction, speaks on poetry, debate, citizenship and crisis homeschooling. Im perfectly aware of the arrogance and futility of asking a work of art to be something it isnt or asking an artist to do something they may or may not actually want to do. He has been a fulbright scholar, a finalist for the national book. Coronavirus pandemics donald trump poets poetry numbers presidents coronavirus dispatches from a pandemic. Trump wants to protect the numbers, not the covid19 patients. How much has modern poetry become a minority taste in.
He has been a finalist for the national book award in poetry and received fellowships from the fulbright, guggenheim, and macarthur foundations, among other honors. He has been a finalist for the national book award and the northern california book award, a fulbright scholar in spain, and the recipient of a 20102011 howard foundation fellowship. On dedication this is the first poem in mean free path. Ben lerner is a novelist, poetry, and critic exploring the contemporary relevance of art and the artist to modern culture with humor, compassion, and intelligence. Text publishing the hatred of poetry, book by ben lerner. I wanted the dedication to be integral to the book, not something set apart on a prefatory page. Ben lerners first two books of fictionleaving the atocha station and 10.
Lerner is a professor of english at brooklyn college. He was awarded the hayden carruth prize for his cycle of fiftytwo sonnets, the lichtenberg figures. His first novel, leaving the atocha station, won the 2012 believer book award. It was raining in delft, where the speaker moves quickly from the language of the phone to the belated language of poetry. He has published the poetry collections the lichtenberg figures, angle of yaw a finalist for the national book award, mean free. In 2015 he was awarded a prestigious macarthur fellowship. A list of poems by ben lerner lerner is the author of three poetry collections.
Lerner turned to fiction only after publishing three volumes of poetry. Mean free path copper canyon press, 2010, angle of yaw copper canyon press, 2006, and the lichtenberg figures copper canyon press, 2004, as well as two highly acclaimed novels. Born in topeka, kansas, in 1979, ben lerner is the author of three books of poetry the lichtenberg figures, angle of yaw, and mean free path. He received a ba in political theory and an mfa in poetry from brown university. In 2008 lerner began editing poetry for critical quarterly, a british scholarly publication. Because the poems are largely concerned with the possibility of writing and being for, with finding a mode of address capable of something other than ironic detachment or expressing prefabricated structures of feeling, it seemed like cheating. Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your inbox. In the morning i ask the girls what they want for breakfast, give it to them, and then they reject it and demand something else, so i serve that and eat what theyve discarded. Ben lerner is the author of the acclaimed novels leaving the atocha station and 10.
Today, the battle over the value of poetry rages on. But of course every generation has its own version, its own smoldering apprehension of end times, of the foreclosure of human history, the cessation of our. His novel, leaving the atocha station, was the receipient of many awards and prizes. Lerner is the author of several fulllength poetry collections, including mean free path 2010. Jun 07, 2016 ben lerner writes, many more people agree they hate poetry than can agree what poetry is. Ben lerner has 42 books on goodreads with 108641 ratings. Sep 30, 2019 im perfectly aware of the arrogance and futility of asking a work of art to be something it isnt or asking an artist to do something they may or may not actually want to do. A poet first and foremost, with two celebrated novels under his belt, lerner attempts to stay above the fray by analyzing the unending debate with fresh eyes.
Leaving the atocha station by ben lerner, paperback barnes. His 2006 poetry collection published when he was 27 was a finalist for a national book award. As the final book in his acclaimed trilogy is published, the topeka. I, too, dislike it and have largely organized my life around it and do not experience that as a contradiction because poetry and the hatred of poetry are inextricable in ways it is my purpose to explore. The more books of prose he writes, the more clearly a kind of common persona, singular yet plural, emerges across his work.
Ben lerner is a critically acclaimed poet, novelist, and essayist with plenty of welldeserved accolades hes currently a macarthur fellow, has been a guggenheim fellow and a finalist for the national book award, and has won the believer book award and the hayden carruth award, among others. Lerner turned to fiction only after publishing three volumes of poetry the. He has received fellowships from the fulbright, guggenheim, and macarthur foundations, and is the author of two internationally acclaimed novels, leaving the atocha stationand 10. An editor at guernica, he is the founder of back draft, an interview series focused on poetry and revision. Today i had two waffles, one cut in half, as marcela prefers, one quartered according to lucias specifications. Leaving the atocha station by ben lerner, paperback. Born and raised in topeka, kansas, writer and editor ben lerner earned a ba in political science and an mfa in creative writing from brown university. Tonight im around, promoting syllables, trying to avoid the twin traps of mere procedure and sentimentalism.
I, too, dislike it and have largely organized my life around it and do not experience that as a contradiction because poetry and the hatred of poetry are inextricable in ways it. He was awarded the hayden carruth award for his first book the lichtenberg figures 2004, a cycle of. He has served as a fulbright scholar in madrid and as a guggenheim fellow. He grew up in topeka, kansas, a place that figures prominently in all of his books of poetry, and he is a 1997 graduate of topeka high school. Mean free path copper canyon press, 2010, angle of yaw copper canyon press, 2006, and the lichtenberg figures copper canyon press, 2004, winner of. The lichtenberg figures, angle of yaw, and mean free path. Ben lerner is the author of three books of poetry the lichtenberg figures, angle of yaw, and mean free path, three novels leaving the atocha station, 10. But i think its time for ben lerner to stop writing about ben lerner, and i think even ben lerner wants this. Ben lerner talks to ocean vuong about love, whiteness, and. Ben lerner is the author of three novels, three books of poetry, and numerous critical essays, including the booklength monograph the hatred of poetry.
He has received fellowships from the fulbright, guggenheim, and macarthur foundations, and is the author of three internationally acclaimed novels, leaving the atocha station, 10. I first encountered ben lerner as an undergraduate in one of his poetry workshops at brooklyn college. Lerner born february 4, 1979 is an american poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. Many more people agree they hate poetry, ben lerner writes, than can agree what poetry is. He has received fellowships from the fulbright, guggenheim, howard and macarthur foundations. Nov 01, 2016 we talk to awardwinning poet, novelist and academic ben lerner upon publication of his new book no art making available for the first time in the uk his previous three collections of poetry. Poetry is this space where every single particle of. Mean free path copper canyon press, 2010, angle of yaw copper canyon press, 2006. I n ninth grade english mrs x required us to memorise and recite a poem and so i asked the topeka high librarian to direct me to the shortest poem she knew and she suggested marianne moores poetry. Here he spoke to online editor ted hodgkinson about the fictions we construct about ourselves, the relationship between poetry and breakdown, the elasticity of the novel and the generative properties of failure. Ben lerner writes, many more people agree they hate poetry than can agree what poetry is. Ben lerner biography, age, family, wife, net worth, books. He has been a fulbright fellow, a finalist for the national book award for poetry, a howard foundation fellow, and a guggenheim fellow.
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