We did it folks. We somehow got a Pulitzer Prize winner to go on the pod. And can I just say? Not only is my close personal friend Ben (as I call him, because of how tight we are) a Pulitzer Prize winner, he is also a PERFECT 10 (google image search him). If you don't feel like googling him let me briefly list his credentials: he wrote the DEFINITIVE biography of my soul sister (and possible friend/lover of my grandfather?? we'll get into that one next time) Clarice Lispector and translated many of her works from Portuguese into English, spurring a resurgence of interest in Lispector in the English speaking world. He also recently published the DEFINITIVE biography of Susan Sontag for which - and I would like to emphasize this again - he was awarded none other than the Pulitzer Prize. Heard of it?? 

Drew and I spent two hours chatting with Ben, who was calling in from his home in the French countryside (!!), and let me say it was one of our funnest recording sessions yet. I think you will like this one, listener!

cheat sheet:

0:00 - Opening remarks: Drew is moving to New York City (lol); Ben was initially confused about Drew's gender; Lauren opens up about her passion for Adidas

29:20 - Ben outlines his theory of hot people in literature. How important is being hot when it comes to writing (and more importantly, getting published)? Can you tell if a hot person wrote a certain text in a blind test? How did being extremely hot benefit Lispector and Sontag? Also: Lauren and Ben bond over their shared appreciation of Knausgaard's hotness (this is the closest we get to discussing My Struggle in this episode sorry not sorry).

1:03:03 - We have a very interesting discussion about literary translation using Ben's experience translating Lispector and also one page of Lauren's grandfather's novel "Antonio" as examples. We tackle some thorny questions at the heart of translation/translation studies, most of which boil down to: is translation an art or a craft? Ben comes down on the latter side and pushes back against "tenure-track mystifications" of the work of the translation, which argues is actually pretty straightforward*. Also: some spicy takes on Sapir-Whorf.

1:37:10 - Ben encourages Drew to implement a rigorous traditional canon for his high school English class. What follows is an arch-reactionary discussion of the Canon and how good it is. Also Ben says he would cast me as the Wife of Bathe in The Canterbury Tales and I don't know whether to be offended or not because I can't remember anything that happened in there.

Thank you for listening! Ben is pretty easy to find on Google and on Instagram (where he's a Beowulf influencer) but I also highly recommend his substack which I am obsessed with. It is the only substack I actually read every issue of. Impossibly erudite but also funny and accessible. 

As always you can reach out to me ([email protected]) or Drew ([email protected]) with your questions comments and concerns. Happy to hear from you!

*Here is the Iris Murdoch quote from The Sovereignty of the Good Over Other Concepts that I botched:

If I am learning, for instance, Russian, I am confronted by an authoritative structure which commands my respect. The task is difficult and the goal is distant and perhaps never entirely attainable. My work is a progressive revelation of something which exists independently of me. Attention is rewarded by knowledge of reality. Love of Russian leads me away from myself towards something alien to me, something which my consciousness cannot take over, swallow up, deny or make unreal. The honesty and humility required of the student -- not to pretend to know what one does not know--is the pre