Max Lawton is an American writer and translator of
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...
into English. He is known for translating the works of
Vladimir Sorokin
Vladimir Georgiyevich Sorokin (; born 7 August 1955) is a postmodern Russian writer of novels, short stories, and plays.
He has been described as one of the leading and most popular writers in contemporary Russian literature. Sorokin became k ...
, whose ''Telluria'' was longlisted for the 2023
Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize
The Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is an annual literary prize for any book-length translation into English from any other living European language. The first prize was awarded in 1999. The prize is funded by and named in honour of Lord Wei ...
. A total of eight of Sorokin's books are being translated into English by Lawton, as well as articles and short stories, including "Horse Soup" which won the
O. Henry Award in 2022.
Biography
Lawton was born in Brussels, Belgium, where he lived for the first 3 years of his life.
He grew up in Chicago. He received his BA in Russian Literature from
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 ...
, where he also was on the rowing team. He was a winner of the John Jay Scholarship as well as the
National Merit Scholarship
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit ...
.
He received the
Clarendon Fund Scholarship for his Masters of Philosophy from
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...
. He lives in Los Angeles, California and is described as a "Sorokin superfan".
In addition to Russian, Lawton has also translated from French and German, such as
Jonathan Littell's The Damp and the Dry and
Michael Lentz's novel ''Schattenfroh''.
Lawton has been translating Sorokin's works since 2016, starting with novella ''Nastya'', short story ''Horse Soup'', and notably attempting the first English translation of ''
Blue Lard'', a more linguistically complex and longer work than the short stories.
Selected translations
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Personal life
Lawton lives in Los Angeles, where he also plays in a metal band.
References
External links
Official website
Living people
Russian–English translators
21st-century American translators
Year of birth missing (living people)
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