Ben Lerner is an American poet, novelist, and critic. He was awarded the Hayden Carruth prize for his cycle of fifty-two sonnets, The Lichtenberg Figures. In 2004, Library Journal named it one of the year's twelve best books of poetry. The Lichtenberg Figures appeared in a German translation in 2010, for which it received the "Preis der Stadt Münster für internationale Poesie" in 2011, making Lerner the first American to receive this honor.
Born and raised in Topeka, which figures in each of his books of poetry, Lerner is a 1997 graduate of Topeka High School where he was a standout in debate and forensics. At Brown University he earned a B.A. in Political Theory and an MFA in Poetry. He traveled on a Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid, Spain in 2003 where he wrote his second book, Angle of Yaw, which was published in 2006 and was subsequently named a finalist for the National Book Award, and was selected by Brian Foley as one of the "25 important books of poetry of the 00s (2000-2009)". Lerner's third full-length poetry collection, Mean Free Path, was published in 2010.
Lerner's first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, was published by Coffee House Press in August 2011. It was named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and New York Magazine, among other periodicals. It won the Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for "first fiction" and the New York Public Library's Young Lions prize.
In 2008 Lerner began editing poetry for Critical Quarterly, a British academic publication. He has taught at California College of the Arts, the University of Pittsburgh, and in 2010 joined the faculty of the MFA program at Brooklyn College.
Lerner's mother is the well-known psychologist Harriet Lerner.
Tiene poemas muy lindos, emocionantes, pero quizás por momentos me vi forzada a terminarlo por el solo compromiso de empezar y finalizar un libro. A pesar de sus poemas bellos , hay una gran cantidad que me aburrió.
Creo que debería reseñar libro por libro, pero esta compilación tiene una especie de cinismo adolorido muy inteligente, siempre tierno, como el de un adolescente que vivió muchas cosas, todas ellas cansadoras.
El estudio preliminar me confundió bastante, como suele pasar con los estudios preliminares.
Este libro se sintió como leer a dos personas distintas: La primera era una voz de un filósofo pretencioso, tan malcriado como un niño al que no le dan lo que quiere. La otra, se sintió como un balde de agua fría: "El ojo constituye cualquier perturbación en el campo como objeto. Esa es la función gramatical del ojo. A fin de distinguir objetos, el ojo va asignando valores donde no los hay" Vale la pena leerlo por la experiencia, supongo.
"Vete por temor a la abstracción pero vete. Que en la mañana te hayas ido. No hay nada No necesitas un caracol. Solo ahueca la mano Aquí no hay nada para ti excepto repetición"