View source for Benjamin Taylor (author)

{{short description|American writer}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = Benjamin Taylor
| image       = Benjamin_Taylor_author_photo.jpg
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| birth_date  = {{birth date|1952|8|20}}
| birth_place = [[Fort Worth, Texas]]
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| occupation  = Writer
| nationality =
| period      = 1995-present
| genre       = Nonfiction, fiction
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| signature   = Benjamin Taylor signature.jpg
| website     = {{URL|benjamintaylorauthor.com}}
}}
'''Benjamin Taylor''' (born 1952) is an American writer whose work has appeared in a number of publications including ''[[The Atlantic]]'', ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's]]'', ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', ''[[Bookforum]]'', ''[[BOMB]]'', the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', ''[[Le Monde]]'', ''[[The Georgia Review]]'', ''[[Raritan (journal)|Raritan Quarterly Review]]'', ''[[Threepenny Review]]'', ''[[Salmagundi]]'', ''Provincetown Arts'' and ''The Reading Room''. He is a founding member of the Graduate Writing Program faculty of [[The New School]] in New York City, and has also taught at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], the Poetry Center of the [[92nd Street Y]], [[Bennington College]] and [[Columbia University]]. He has served as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of [[PEN American Center]], has been a fellow of the [[MacDowell Colony]] and was awarded the Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger Residency at [[Yaddo]]. A Trustee of the [[Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc.]], he is also a Fellow of the [[New York Institute for the Humanities]] at [[New York University]] and a [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim Fellow]] for 2012 - 2013. Taylor's biography of [[Marcel Proust]], ''Proust: The Search,'' was published in October 2015 by [[Yale University Press]] as part of its newly launched Yale Jewish Lives series.
==Early life and education==
Benjamin Taylor was born and raised in [[Fort Worth, Texas]]. He received his B.A. from [[Haverford College]] and his Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from [[Columbia University]] where his teachers included Joseph A. Mazzeo, [[Steven Marcus]], [[Paul Oskar Kristeller]], [[Sidney Morgenbesser]], [[Michael Wood (academic)|Michael Wood]], Carl Woodring,  [[Quentin Anderson]], [[Frank Kermode]], and [[Edward Said|Edward W. Said]].
==Career==
Taylor's debut novel, ''Tales Out of School'' (1995), is set on [[Galveston Island]], Texas in 1907 and revolves around the Mehmels, a once prosperous [[German-Jewish]] immigrant family whose fortunes are in decline.  The novel won the 1996 Harold J. Ribalow Prize and was reissued in 2008 by Zoland Books. Taylor's second novel, ''The Book of Getting Even'' (Steerforth Press, 2008), tells the story of Gabriel Geismar, a young aspiring astronomer who becomes involved with a charismatic but troubled family named Hundert. [[Philip Roth]] wrote that "''The Book of Getting Even'' is among the most original novels I have read in recent years...[It] is exuberant and charming and heartbroken by turns."<ref>[http://www.steerforth.com/books/display.pperl?isbn=9781581952322 The Book of Getting Even: A Novel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716072901/http://www.steerforth.com/books/display.pperl?isbn=9781581952322 |date=2011-07-16 }} Steerforth Press Website, retrieved October 19, 2010</ref> Taylor's novel was one of three 2009 [[Barnes & Noble]] Discover Award winners, a 2008 ''Los Angeles Times ''Favorite Book of the Year, and a Ferro-Grumley Prize Finalist.  In October 2009, ''The Book of Getting Even'' appeared as ''El Libro de la Venganza'' in Spain, where it was named a best book of the year by ''[[El País]]''.<ref>[http://www.elpais.com/especial/libros/ "Babelia: los Libros del Año,"] ''El País'', retrieved October 19, 2010</ref>
In addition to his fiction, Taylor has published a book-length essay titled ''Into the Open: Reflections on Genius and Modernity'' ([[NYU Press]], 1995) in which he examines three influential minds—[[Walter Pater]], [[Paul Valéry]], and [[Sigmund Freud]]—and how they viewed a figure widely considered the first great modern genius, [[Leonardo da Vinci]].
Taylor's review of ''Muriel Spark: A Biography'' by Martin Stannard appeared in the May 2010 issue of [[Harper's Magazine]].<ref>[http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/05/0082959 "Goodbye Very Much:  The Many Lives of Muriel Spark" (abstract)] ''Harper's Magazine'', May 2010, retrieved October 19, 2010</ref> He has also edited ''Saul Bellow: Letters'', which appeared on November 4, 2010 from [[Viking Press]]. The book is the collected correspondence of Canadian-born American author and [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel laureate]] [[Saul Bellow]] and includes Bellow's letters to such authors as  [[William Faulkner]], [[Lionel Trilling]], [[Alfred Kazin]], [[Robert Penn Warren]], [[J. F. Powers]], [[John Berryman]], [[John Cheever]], [[Karl Shapiro]], [[Wright Morris]], [[Norman Podhoretz]], Philip Roth, [[Cynthia Ozick]], [[Stanley Elkin]], [[Allan Bloom]], [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] and [[Martin Amis]].<ref>''Saul Bellow: Letters'', edited by Benjamin Taylor (Viking, New York 2010)</ref> A selection of the letters appeared in the April 26, 2010 issue of ''[[The New Yorker]]''.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_bellow "Saul Bellow, Life & Letters, 'Among Writers'" (abstract)], retrieved October 19, 2010</ref> Of ''Saul Bellow: Letters'', [[Leon Wieseltier]], in ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'', wrote "Taylor has selected and edited and annotated these letters with exquisite judgment and care. This is an ''elegantissimo'' book. Our literature's debt to Taylor, if the culture still cares, is considerable"<ref>Wieseltier, Leon (11-18-10).[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/books/review/Wieseltier-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1 "Saul Bellow's Quest for the Vernacular Sublime"], ''New York Times Book Review'', Retrieved November 18, 2010</ref> and ''New York Times'' literary critic [[Michiko Kakutani]] chose ''Letters'' as one of her "Top Ten Books of 2010."<ref>Kakutani, Michiko (11-23-10). [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/books/26kakutani10.html?ref=michiko_kakutani "Top Ten Books of 2010"] ''New York Times'', retrieved November 29, 2010</ref>
Benjamin Taylor's travel memoir, ''Naples Declared: A Walk Around the Bay'', was released on May 10, 2012 by Marian Wood Books, a division of [[Penguin Books|Penguin]] (USA). [[Publishers Weekly]] named ''Naples Declared'' as one of its "Top Ten Travel Books of 2012."<ref>Eremelino, Louisa (1-20-12). [http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/50293-spring-2012-announcements-travel-meander-is-a-river--.htmlref=louisa_eremelino "Spring 2012 Announcements: Travel: Meander Is a River... "] ''Publishers Weekly,'' retrieved March 23, 2012</ref> ''Naples Declared'' was also named a Best Book of 2012 by ''The New Yorker'', where [[Judith Thurman]] wrote, "It is a work of voluptuous erudition; a meditation on place and displacement; a paean to the chance encounter—a worldly adventure story...I found it transporting."<ref>Thurman, Judith (12-13-12). [http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/12/best-books-of-2012.html "Best Books of 2012"], ''The New Yorker'', Retrieved December 17, 2012</ref> His edition of the collected non-fiction of Saul Bellow, ''There Is Simply Too Much to Think About'', was published by Viking in March 2015. Writing in the ''[[New York Review of Books]]'', [[Nathaniel Rich (novelist)|Nathaniel Rich]] described the collection as "magnificent...an intimate portrait of Bellow’s defiant, irascible mind, and a milestone of twentieth-century criticism...The collection offers a triumphant overabundance of riches—which is exactly why we read Bellow in the first place."<ref>Rich, Nathaniel (06-01-2015) [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/06/04/bellow-defiant-irascible-mind/ "Bellow: The ‘Defiant, Irascible Mind’"] ''New York Review of Books,'' retrieved December 12, 2015.</ref>
Taylor's biography of Marcel Proust, ''Proust: The Search'', was chosen as a "Best Book of 2015" by [[Robert McCrum]] of ''[[The Observer]]'' and [[Thomas Mallon]] of the ''New York Times Book Review''.<ref>McCrum, Robert (11-22-15). [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/22/proust-the-search-review-benjamin-taylor "Proust: The Search by Benjamin Taylor review – Scintillating Narrative"] ''The Observer,'' retrieved December 12, 2015</ref><ref>Mallon, Thomas (12-07-2015).[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/books/review/whats-the-best-book-new-or-old-you-read-this-year.html?smid=fb-share "What’s the Best Book, New or Old, You Read This Year?"] ''New York Times Sunday Book Review,'' retrieved December 12, 2015</ref>
In 2017, [[Penguin Random House]] released ''The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered,'' a memoir of one year in Taylor's childhood in [[Fort Worth, Texas]], following the assassination of President [[John F. Kennedy]]. It won the 2017 [[Los Angeles Times – Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose|''Los Angeles Times'' – Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose]].<ref>{{cite web | title=The Christopher Isherwood Prize | website=The Christopher Isherwood Foundation | url=http://www.isherwoodfoundation.org/prizes.html | access-date=27 September 2021 | archive-date=26 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926112745/http://www.isherwoodfoundation.org/prizes.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> Later that year, [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] released ''Debriefing: Collected Stories of Susan Sontag,'' which was edited by Taylor.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}
''Here We Are: My Friendship with Philip Roth'', was published in May 2020 by Penguin Books.<ref name=lj2020>{{cite news|url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/here-we-are-my-friendship-with-philip-roth|title=Here We Are: My Friendship with Philip Roth|work=[[Library Journal]]|last=Shapiro|first=Herbert|date=June 12, 2020|access-date=June 3, 2024}}</ref>
In 2021, Taylor received a Literature Award from the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]].<ref>[https://artsandletters.org/?s=benjamin+taylor] Academy of Arts and Letters, retrieved February 14, 2024.</ref>
Taylor appeared on the March 16, 2012, episode of the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] series ''[[What Would You Do? (2008 TV program)|Primetime: What Would You Do?]]''. He was shown berating an actress portraying an abusive fashion editor.<ref>''Primetime from ABC News''. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MszbD7NjHo#t=322 "What would you do: Snobby rich customer"] YouTube, retrieved March 23, 2012</ref>
== Bibliography ==
;Non-fiction
* ''Into the Open: Reflections on Genius and Modernity'' (1995)
* ''Saul Bellow: Letters'', Editor (2010)
* ''Naples Declared'' (2012)
* ''There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Non-Fiction of Saul Bellow,'' Editor (2015)
* ''Proust: The Search'' (2015)
* ''The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered'' (2017)
* ''Debriefing: Collected Stories of Susan Sontag,'' Editor (2017)
* ''Here We Are: My Friendship with Philip Roth'' (2020)
* ''Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather'' (2023)
;Fiction
* ''Tales Out of School'' (1995)
* ''The Book of Getting Even'' (2008)
;Other
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=LO4OxmX2lBYC&pg=PA147 "Prodigal Son"] essay by Taylor that appears in ''Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS'', edited by Edmund White, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
{{commons category|Benjamin Taylor}}
* {{Official website | url = http://www.benjamintaylorauthor.com/index.html}}
;Interviews
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6634179212308885588# ''"Indignation'' Day"] Video of Benjamin Taylor's interview with Philip Roth, live webcast sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 16, 2008
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110727151238/http://www.openlooppress.org/interviews/benjamin-taylor/ "Fiction as Fibbing: Benjamin Taylor"] Interview with Carlin M. Wragg of Open Loop Press, November 2008
* [http://chronicle.com/blogs/pageview/the-epistolary-adventures-of-saul-bellow/25826 "The Epistolary Adventures of Saul Bellow"] Interview with Evan R. Goldstein in ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'', July 28, 2010
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101121221643/http://dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=409 Bellow in His Dream Car: An Interview with Benjamin Taylor] ''[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]] Magazine'', November 4, 2010
* [http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/11/reading-saul-bellows-letters Reading Saul Bellow's Letters] Interview with Benjamin Taylor, Gloria Cronin and [[Nathan Englander]] on [[NPR]]'s ''[[On Point]]'' with [[Tom Ashbrook]], November 15, 2010
* [http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books/mr_bellows_planet "Mr. Bellow's Planet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124080029/http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books/mr_bellows_planet |date=2010-11-24 }} Interview with Benjamin Taylor, ''[[The Jewish Week]]'', November 16, 2010
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2011/3121047.htm "Writers' Letters: A Roundtable"] ''[[The Book Show]]'', [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], January 28, 2011.
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/8523311/Philip-Roth-Im-not-caged-in-by-reality.html "Philip Roth: I'm not caged in by reality,"] Benjamin Taylor interviews Philip Roth, ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'', May 20, 2011
* [http://www.3200stories.org/blog/2012/03/31/saul-bellow-in-life-letters/ "Saul Bellow in Life and Letters"] Panel with Benjamin Taylor and [[Joyce Carol Oates]], moderated by [[Peter Orner]], Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, March 31, 2012
* [http://www.brooklynrail.org/2012/09/books/benjamin-taylor-with-adam-fitzgerald-sept2012 "Benjamin Taylor in Conversation with Adam Fitzgerald,"] ''[[The Brooklyn Rail]]'', September 2012
;Other
* [http://www.henryreview.org/reading-naples-declared-a-walk-around-the-bay-benjamin-taylor/ "Reading: ''Naples Declared: A Walk Around the Bay,''"] Benjamin Taylor reads an excerpt from ''Naples Declared,'' ''Henry Review'', January 3, 2013.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Benjamin}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:American humanities academics]]
[[Category:Bennington College faculty]]
[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:Haverford College alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:MacDowell Colony fellows]]
[[Category:Writers from Fort Worth, Texas]]
[[Category:The New School faculty]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]
[[Category:American male writers]]