“Part of what makes the book bizzare is that Whitman, because he wants to stand for everyone, because he wants to be less a historical person than a marker for democratic personhood, can't really write a memoir full of a… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
I don't think it's always a sign of respect for persons (inside or outside of fiction) to pretend to be able to represent, to… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
Shaving is a way to start the workday by ritually not cutting your throat when you've the chance. — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
I don't want to write poems that are just really clear about how I'm aware of all the traps involved in writing poetry; I… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
“What you need to do is harness the self-love you are hypostasizing as offspring, as the next generation of you, and let it branch… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
“And because his narrator was characterized above all by his anxiety regarding the disconnect between his internal experience and his social self-presentation,” — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
“And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
“Part of what makes the book bizzare is that Whitman, because he wants to stand for everyone, because he wants to be less a… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
The problem is that if you're self-conscious about being a person on whom nothing is lost, isn't something lost - some kind of presence?… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
Most of us start from that position of irony now and what I wanted to do - really felt like I had to do… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
Laser technology has fulfilled our people's ancient dream of a blade so fine that the person it cuts remains standing and alive until he… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
“Our contempt for any particular poem must be perfect, be total, because only a ruthless reading that allows us to measure the gap between… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
If I was a poet, I had become one because poetry, more intensely than any other practice, could not evade its anachronism and marginality… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
Your interviews or blog posts or whatever are less supplements to your novel than part of it. I'm not private, but I believe in… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
“I’m going to kill the president. I promise. I surrender. I'm sorry. I'm gay. I'm pregnant. I'm dying. I'm not your father. You're fired.… — Ben Lerner Copy Share Image
