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Draft:Benjamin Libman

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This page is about Benjamin Libman. For other uses, see Benjamin Libman (disambiguation).
Benjamin Libman
Author photo, Benjamin Libman
Born (1995-02-01) February 1, 1995 (age 30)
Montreal, Canada
OccupationLiterary critic, translator, writer
NationalityCanadian, Austrian
Alma materColumbia University
Stanford University
GenreMemoir, Literary criticism
Notable worksThe Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History (2025)
The Sociology of Literature (translation, 2023)
Notable awardsPhi Beta Kappa

Benjamin Libman (born February 1, 1995) is a Canadian-Austrian literary critic and translator. His critical essays and reviews, which often focus on contemporary and classic European literature, have appeared in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Yale Review, New Left Review, The Guardian, and Poetry. As a translator, he is known for his work translating academic texts from French into English, including the work of French sociologist Gisèle Sapiro. Libman is the author of the memoir, The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History (2025).

Early life and education

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Benjamin Libman was born on February 1, 1995, in Montreal, Canada. He holds dual Canadian and Austrian nationality.[1]

Libman attended Bialik High School in Montreal and Lower Canada College.[2] He comes from a Jewish family with ancestry in Austria and Eastern Europe.[3] His parents, Michael Libman and Susan Kahn, are both physicians and professors at McGill University in Montreal.[4][5]

Libman attended Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Comparative Literature in 2017, graduating magna cum laude.[6] He subsequently pursued graduate studies at Stanford University, receiving his Master of Arts in English in 2020[7] and his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in English in 2025.[8] His doctoral dissertation focused on the importation of the Nouveau Roman into America.[8] He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[6]

Career

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Libman's writing encompasses memoir, literary criticism, and translation.

Criticism

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Libman's critical work primarily involves cultural criticism and essays and reviews of contemporary and classic European literature. His writing explores themes of historiography, memory, art history, literary theory, and Zionism.

His articles and reviews have appeared in:

  • The New York Times:
    • "A Surrealist Classic Shows Us the Uncanny in Everyday Paris" (June 28, 2025)[9]
    • "In a Run-Down Movie Theater, She Found a Window on the World" (November 9, 2024)[10]
    • "A Novel Reconsiders an African Writer Tarnished by Scandal" (September 26, 2023)[11]
  • The Yale Review:
    • "Paul Auster: Why the novelist’s brand of postmodern detective fiction still matters" (May 7, 2024)[12]
    • "Lighted Windows in Lockdown: The visible and invisible lives of others" (March 14, 2022)[13]
  • New Left Review (Sidecar):
    • "Forest of Images" (August 5, 2022)[14]
    • "Wisdom Accumulates" (May 18, 2022)[15]
  • The Guardian:
    • "All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg review: the sins of the father" (April 3, 2020)[16]
  • Poetry:
    • "At a Slight Angle to the Universe" (May 29, 2023)[17]
    • "Name Everything for the First Time" (August 2, 2021)[18]
  • Post45:
    • "Susan Sontag and the Americanization of the Nouveau Roman" (August 2022)[19]


His memoir, The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History (Dundurn Press, 2025), has received praise from several contemporaries. Critic Merve Emre described it as "A frank, tender love letter to modern Jewish life."[20] Poet and critic Ryan Ruby stated that Libman "attends with wisdom and candour to the treacherous riddles history continues to whisper into all our ears."[20] Novelist and poet Aria Aber called it "A work of astounding beauty,"[20] and Lisa Robertson noted its "urgent question" about growing up in a Zionist community.[20] The Berliner (magazine) characterized the book as "an attempt to tell transatlantic Jewish family history that does not culminate in unquestioning support for Israel."[20] In an interview on the subject of his memoir, Libman advocated for a Jewish politics without Zionism, saying that "If you can convince people to abandon Zionism, you can hopefully convince them, if they live in the diaspora, to demand their governments to do likewise, and to actively campaign against the perpetuation of Zionism as a state-governing ideology in Israel. This would be not the end, but the beginning of the end, of the suffering."[21] He has been critical of the ways in which North American Jews have been limited to one mode of "comradeship" — Zionism.[22]

Libman was included in a list of "fifty critics who have produced excellent essays in English about literature in non-academic venues in the period 2018-2023" by Ryan Ruby in an essay on literary criticism.[23]

Translation

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Libman translates from French into English, specializing in academic texts.

His notable translated works include:

  • Gisèle Sapiro, La sociologie de la littérature (original title), translated as The Sociology of Literature (Stanford University Press, 2023).[24]
  • Gisèle Sapiro, Peut-on dissocier l'oeuvre de l'auteur (original title), translated as Can We Separate the Author From the Work? (Stanford University Press, 2026, forthcoming).[25]

The Sociology of Literature has received significant scholarly attention, with reviews in academic journals such as Critical Inquiry (James English), Cultural Sociology (Jan Váňa), Contemporary Sociology (Álvaro Santana-Acuña), and Chronicle of Higher Education (Lee Konstantinou).[26][27] The translation has also been endorsed by scholars including Bridget Fowler, Andrew Goldstone, and Ted Underwood.[27]


Works

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  • The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History (Dundurn Press, 2025) ISBN: 9781459753662

Translations

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  • Sapiro, Gisèle. The Sociology of Literature. Stanford University Press, 2023. ISBN: 9781503633179.
  • Sapiro, Gisèle. Can We Separate the Author From the Work?. Stanford University Press, 2026. (forthcoming)

References

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  1. ^ Libman, Benjamin (2025). The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History. Dundurn Press. p. 78. ISBN 9781459753662.
  2. ^ Libman, Benjamin (2025). The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History. Dundurn Press. p. 89. ISBN 9781459753662.
  3. ^ Libman, Benjamin (2025). The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History. Dundurn Press. p. 4. ISBN 9781459753662.
  4. ^ "Michael Libman | Newsroom". McGill University. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  5. ^ "Susan Kahn | Newsroom". McGill University. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Eighty-nine seniors to be initiated into Phi Beta Kappa". Columbia College.
  7. ^ "Benjamin Libman | Department of English". Stanford University. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Stanford University 134th Commencement Program" (PDF). Stanford University. 16 June 2025. p. 58. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  9. ^ "A Surrealist Classic Shows Us the Uncanny in Everyday Paris". The New York Times. 28 June 2025. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  10. ^ "In a Run-Down Movie Theater, She Found a Window on the World". The New York Times. 9 November 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  11. ^ "Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's 'A Novel Reconsiders an African Writer Tarnished by Scandal". The New York Times. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  12. ^ "Paul Auster: Why the novelist's brand of postmodern detective fiction still matters". The Yale Review. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Lighted Windows in Lockdown: The visible and invisible lives of others". The Yale Review. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  14. ^ "Forest of Images". New Left Review (Sidecar). Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  15. ^ "Wisdom Accumulates". New Left Review (Sidecar). Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  16. ^ "All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg review: the sins of the father". The Guardian. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  17. ^ "At a Slight Angle to the Universe". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  18. ^ "Name Everything for the First Time". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  19. ^ Libman, Benjamin (August 2022). "Susan Sontag and the Americanization of the Nouveau Roman". Post45. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  20. ^ a b c d e "The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History". Dundurn Press. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  21. ^ ""I don't want to overstate the case, but what's at stake is life and death": An Interview with Benjamin Libman — Cristina Politano". 29 May 2025.
  22. ^ https://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/reviews/the-third-solitude/
  23. ^ Ruby, Ryan. "A Golden Age of Literary Criticism?". Vinduet. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  24. ^ Sapiro, Gisèle (2023). The Sociology of Literature. Translated by Benjamin Libman. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9781503633179.
  25. ^ "About". BENJAMIN LIBMAN.
  26. ^ "James F. English reviews The Sociology of Literature". Critical Inquiry. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  27. ^ a b "The Sociology of Literature | Stanford University Press". 24 October 2023 – via www.sup.org.
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