Ben Marcus (born October 11, 1967) is an American author and professor at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He has written four books of fiction. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in publications including ''Harper's'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The Paris Review'', ''Granta'', ''The New York Times'', ''GQ'', ''Salon'', ''McSweeney's'', ''Time'', and ''Conjunctions''. He is also the fiction editor of ''The American Reader''. His latest book, ''Notes From The Fog: Stories'', was published by

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

in August 2018.

Life

Marcus grew up in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

, the son of a retired mathematician and the literary critic and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

scholar Jane Marcus. His father is Jewish and his mother is of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

background; Marcus had a

Bar Mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

. Marcus received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and an MFA from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. Marcus is a professor at

School of the Arts. He is the editor of ''The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories'', and the fiction editor at ''The American Reader''. For several years he was the fiction editor of ''

Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

''. Marcus is married to the writer Heidi Julavits, with whom he has two children. They live in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and also have a seasonal house in Maine.

Influences

Marcus's influences include

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, Donald Barthelme, Richard Yates,

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. O'Connor was a Southern writer who of ...

, Thomas Bernhard, Padgett Powell,

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...

, David Ohle,

Kōbō Abe , known by his pen name , was a Japanese writer, playwright and director. His 1962 novel ''The Woman in the Dunes'' was made into an Woman in the Dunes, award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often been compared to Franz Kaf ...

, Garielle Lutz, and

George Saunders George Saunders (born December 2, 1958) is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', ''Harper's'', ''McSweeney's'', and '' GQ''. He also contributed a we ...

Awards and honours

*1999 Whiting Award *2000

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, Fellowship in Fiction *2008 Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters *2009 Creative Capital Award for Innovative Literature *2013 Berlin Prize Fellowship *2013

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

*2014

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award __NOTOC__ The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented betwe ...

shortlist ''Leaving the Sea'' *2014 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize, shortlist, ''The Flame Alphabet''

Bibliography

Novels

*'' Notable American Women'' (2002) *''The Flame Alphabet'' (2012)

Short story collections

*'' The Age of Wire and String'' (1995) *''Leaving the Sea'' (2014) *''New American Stories'' (2015) *''Notes from the Fog'', Knopf, (2018),

Short stories

"Elevation of the Prison Bed"
''The Barcelona Review'', 1997 *''The Father Costume'' (2002), novella with art by Matthew Ritchie *
"The Dark Arts"
''The New Yorker'', May 20, 2013
"The Loyalty Protocol"
''Granta 122: Betrayal'', Winter 2013 (Subscription Required)
"The Grow Light Blues"
''The New Yorker'', June 22, 2015 *''Tool'', a short story written as a review of a woodworking tool
"Cold Little Bird"
New Yorker, October 19, 2015

Other works

* Text for the photography book by Kahn & Selesnick ''Scotlandfuturebog'' (2002). Aperture Foundation, New York City, . *''The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories'' (2004), editor *''The Moors'' (2010) *''Chemical Seuss'', from benmarcus.com *''Thomas Bernhard'', from benmarcus.com *''On the Lyric Essay'', from benmarcus.com *''Why experimental fiction threatens to destroy publishing, Jonathan Franzen, and life as we know it: A correction'', a response to an essay by Mr. Franzen, from Harpers.org

References

External links

Official websiteProfile at The Whiting FoundationElectronic Book Review reviews Notable American WomenBen Marcus at the American Academy Berlin as Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fiction Fellow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus, Ben 1967 births Living people Jewish American novelists Postmodern literature American postmodern writers Brown University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Writers from Chicago Columbia University faculty American male novelists Novelists from Illinois Novelists from New York (state) Harper's Magazine people 21st-century American Jews