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From the “most talented writer of his generation” (The New York Times), a lightning flash of a novel that is at once a gripping emotional drama and a brilliant examination of the devices, digital and literary, we use to store―or to erase―our memories.
The narrator of Ben Lerner’s new novel has traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, where he is to conduct what will be the final published interview with Thomas, his ninety-year-old mentor and the father of his college friend, Max. Thomas is a giant in the arts who seems to hail “from the future and the past simultaneously” and who “reenchants the air” when he speaks. But the narrator drops his smartphone in the hotel sink. He arrives at Thomas’s house with no recording device, a fact he is mysteriously unable to confess.
What unfolds from this dreamlike circumstance is both the unforgettable story of the triangle formed by Thomas, Max, and the narrator, and a brilliant meditation on those technologies that enrich or impoverish our connection to one another, that store or obliterate memory. Haunted by Kafka (there are echoes of “The Judgement” and “A Hunger Artist”), but utterly contemporary, Lerner combines trenchant insight with lyric mystery. Ultimately, Transcription demonstrates what only a work of fiction can record.
The narrator of Ben Lerner’s new novel has traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, where he is to conduct what will be the final published interview with Thomas, his ninety-year-old mentor and the father of his college friend, Max. Thomas is a giant in the arts who seems to hail “from the future and the past simultaneously” and who “reenchants the air” when he speaks. But the narrator drops his smartphone in the hotel sink. He arrives at Thomas’s house with no recording device, a fact he is mysteriously unable to confess.
What unfolds from this dreamlike circumstance is both the unforgettable story of the triangle formed by Thomas, Max, and the narrator, and a brilliant meditation on those technologies that enrich or impoverish our connection to one another, that store or obliterate memory. Haunted by Kafka (there are echoes of “The Judgement” and “A Hunger Artist”), but utterly contemporary, Lerner combines trenchant insight with lyric mystery. Ultimately, Transcription demonstrates what only a work of fiction can record.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2026
About the author
Ben Lerner
68 books2,020 followersBen 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 12, 2026
Grazie di esistere ben<3
April 13, 2026
*3.5
Devo essere onesta, prima dell'ultima sezione del romanzo ero un po' scettica, poi tutto acquista più profondità ed ho ritrovato il Lerner che mi piace.
Non credo che sia il suo miglior libro come ho letto in alcune recensioni, ma mi è piaciuto lo stesso.
In questo breve romanzo, Lerner riflette sul ruolo e le potenzialità della tecnologia nelle nostre vite e su come come questa possa influenzare il modo in cui ricordiamo ciò che diciamo, le cose che facciamo e le persone che amiamo.
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A distanza di qualche giorno dalla fine della lettura, mi sento di abbassare la votazione perché credo che in sostanza questo sia un buon libro che stimola qualche riflessione interessante ma non mi ha lasciato moltissimo, forse la cosa meno forte che ho letto di Lerner fino ad ora.
Devo essere onesta, prima dell'ultima sezione del romanzo ero un po' scettica, poi tutto acquista più profondità ed ho ritrovato il Lerner che mi piace.
Non credo che sia il suo miglior libro come ho letto in alcune recensioni, ma mi è piaciuto lo stesso.
In questo breve romanzo, Lerner riflette sul ruolo e le potenzialità della tecnologia nelle nostre vite e su come come questa possa influenzare il modo in cui ricordiamo ciò che diciamo, le cose che facciamo e le persone che amiamo.
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A distanza di qualche giorno dalla fine della lettura, mi sento di abbassare la votazione perché credo che in sostanza questo sia un buon libro che stimola qualche riflessione interessante ma non mi ha lasciato moltissimo, forse la cosa meno forte che ho letto di Lerner fino ad ora.
May 7, 2026
una coppia padre/figlio e una mentore/discepolo confluiscono in un unico sogno. commovente.
nonostante la prima parte sia difficile da capire appena lo finisci ti obbliga a rileggerlo.
nonostante la prima parte sia difficile da capire appena lo finisci ti obbliga a rileggerlo.
bisogna indagare lo stato dell'etere
September 23, 2026
Un libro incredibile. Non si riesce a smettere di leggerlo, ti senti avvolto dalle parole, dalle visioni che propone. Mamma mia che scrittore. Non vedo l'ora di aprire un altro suo libro.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews