Transcription by Ben Lerner: book review
Transcription by Ben Lerner This is my first book of Ben Lerner's, which is probably important context. I'm not incredibly familiar with him beyond the fact that he's a well-decorated writer who has a connection to the more respected side of the autofiction conversation. I expected formal uniqueness, the chatter around the book promised a reflection on technology after the narrator proceeds to conduct an interview with a dying luminary without a recording device. What I found was thoughtful and interesting, but I question if it was truly a novel? On the one hand, of course it's a novel. Anything that the author decides to label that way is a novel. But, by my particular estimation, what Ben Lerner presents isn't interested in story or narrative enough to truly scratch the itch that fiction typically does. I love when fiction granularly examines the very close realities of the present day, but Lerner's structure often strips out the coherent storytelling element...
