Benjamin Taylor (author)
Benjamin Taylor | |
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Born | Fort Worth, Texas | August 20, 1952
Occupation | Writer |
Period | 1995-present |
Genre | Nonfiction, fiction |
Signature | |
Website | |
benjamintaylorauthor |
Benjamin Taylor (born 1952) is an American writer whose work has appeared in a number of publications including
Early life and education
Benjamin Taylor was born and raised in
.Career
Taylor's debut novel, Tales Out of School (1995), is set on
In addition to his fiction, Taylor has published a book-length essay titled Into the Open: Reflections on Genius and Modernity (
Taylor's review of Muriel Spark: A Biography by Martin Stannard appeared in the May 2010 issue of Harper's Magazine.[3] 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 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.[4] A selection of the letters appeared in the April 26, 2010 issue of The New Yorker.[5] 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"[6] and New York Times literary critic Michiko Kakutani chose Letters as one of her "Top Ten Books of 2010."[7]
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
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.[11][12]
In 2017,
Here We Are: My Friendship with Philip Roth, was published in May 2020 by Penguin Books.[citation needed]
In 2021, Taylor received a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[14]
Taylor appeared on the March 16, 2012, episode of the ABC series Primetime: What Would You Do?. He was shown berating an actress portraying an abusive fashion editor.[15]
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
- "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
- ^ The Book of Getting Even: A Novel Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Steerforth Press Website, retrieved October 19, 2010
- ^ "Babelia: los Libros del Año," El País, retrieved October 19, 2010
- ^ "Goodbye Very Much: The Many Lives of Muriel Spark" (abstract) Harper's Magazine, May 2010, retrieved October 19, 2010
- ^ Saul Bellow: Letters, edited by Benjamin Taylor (Viking, New York 2010)
- ^ "Saul Bellow, Life & Letters, 'Among Writers'" (abstract), retrieved October 19, 2010
- ^ Wieseltier, Leon (11-18-10)."Saul Bellow's Quest for the Vernacular Sublime", New York Times Book Review, Retrieved November 18, 2010
- ^ Kakutani, Michiko (11-23-10). "Top Ten Books of 2010" New York Times, retrieved November 29, 2010
- ^ Eremelino, Louisa (1-20-12). "Spring 2012 Announcements: Travel: Meander Is a River... " Publishers Weekly, retrieved March 23, 2012
- ^ Thurman, Judith (12-13-12). "Best Books of 2012", The New Yorker, Retrieved December 17, 2012
- ^ Rich, Nathaniel (06-01-2015) "Bellow: The ‘Defiant, Irascible Mind’" New York Review of Books, retrieved December 12, 2015.
- ^ McCrum, Robert (11-22-15). "Proust: The Search by Benjamin Taylor review – Scintillating Narrative" The Observer, retrieved December 12, 2015
- ^ Mallon, Thomas (12-07-2015)."What’s the Best Book, New or Old, You Read This Year?" New York Times Sunday Book Review, retrieved December 12, 2015
- ^ "The Christopher Isherwood Prize". The Christopher Isherwood Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ [1] Academy of Arts and Letters, retrieved February 14, 2024.
- ^ Primetime from ABC News. "What would you do: Snobby rich customer" YouTube, retrieved March 23, 2012
External links
- Interviews
- "Indignation Day" Video of Benjamin Taylor's interview with Philip Roth, live webcast sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 16, 2008
- "Fiction as Fibbing: Benjamin Taylor" Interview with Carlin M. Wragg of Open Loop Press, November 2008
- "The Epistolary Adventures of Saul Bellow" Interview with Evan R. Goldstein in The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 28, 2010
- Bellow in His Dream Car: An Interview with Benjamin Taylor Dissent Magazine, November 4, 2010
- 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
- "Mr. Bellow's Planet" Archived 2010-11-24 at the The Jewish Week, November 16, 2010
- "Writers' Letters: A Roundtable" The Book Show, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 28, 2011.
- "Philip Roth: I'm not caged in by reality," Benjamin Taylor interviews Philip Roth, The Telegraph, May 20, 2011
- "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
- "Benjamin Taylor in Conversation with Adam Fitzgerald," The Brooklyn Rail, September 2012
- Other
- "Reading: Naples Declared: A Walk Around the Bay," Benjamin Taylor reads an excerpt from Naples Declared, Henry Review, January 3, 2013.