Martin Puchner

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Martin Puchner (2025) Martin Puchner.jpg
Martin Puchner (2025)

Martin Puchner is a literary critic and philosopher who is the Byron and Anita Wien Chair of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. [1] He is the founding director of the Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University.

Contents

His early work as a literary critic focused on modernism, especially such genres as the closet drama, [2] the literary manifesto, [3] and modern drama. [4] His philosophical work concerns the philosophical dialogue and the intersections of theater and philosophy. [5] His recent work focuses on large-scale projects in literature,[ clarification needed ] technology, and cultural history. He is the general editor of the Norton Anthology of World Literature and lectures on world literature. [6]

Education

He studied at Konstanz University, the University of Bologna, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, before receiving his Ph.D. at Harvard University.[ when? ]

Career

Until 2009 he held the H. Gordon Garbedian Chair at Columbia University, where he also served as co-chair of the Theater Ph.D. program. [7]

In 2017, he published The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization. [8] The book won advance praise from Margaret Atwood. [9] The book was widely reviewed and translated into twenty languages. [10]

On October 13, 2020, W. W. Norton & Company published his book, The Language of Thieves: My Family's Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate. [11] [12] The book provides a familial account of the Germanic cant called Rotwelsch. It was long-listed for the Wingate Prize. [13] Writing for The Guardian Michael Rosen called it "A book about history, language and culture wrapped up in a detective story... It feels as if the writer is peeling back the skin to reveal Germany. I found it fascinating." [14]

In 2022 he published Literature for a Changing Language, based on the inaugural Lectures in European History at Oxford University. [15] It calls for a new approach to storytelling in an era of climate change. [16] Publishers Weekly described the book as "a stirring manifesto." [17] [ dubious – discuss ]

In 2023, he published Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-pop, [18] which provides a global introduction to the arts and humanities. It was shortlisted for Phi Beta Kappa's 2024 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. [19]

Honors

In 2017, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship. [20] He currently is a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library. [21]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "Faculty of Arts & Sciences". Harvard University. Archived from the original on 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  2. ↑ Stage Fright: Modernism, Anti-theatricality, and Drama (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) ISBN   0-8018-6855-6
  3. ↑ Poetry of the Revolution: Marx, Manifestos, and the Avant-Gardes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006) ISBN   0-691-12260-1
  4. ↑ Modern Drama: Critical Concepts (New York: Routledge, 2007) ISBN   978-0-415-38660-9
  5. ↑ The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) ISBN   0-19-973032-6
  6. ↑ "Martin Puchner -- H. Gordon Garbedian Chair in English and Comparative Literature". Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  7. ↑ Columbia U English & Comparative Literature faculty profiles Archived March 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "The Written World by Martin Puchner | PenguinRandomHouse.com". Archived from the original on 2017-09-25.
  9. ↑ @MargaretAtwood (18 June 2017). "The Written World: How Literature Shaped Civilization, by Martin Puchner: coming in Nov. Well worth a read, to find out how come we read..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ↑ "Editions of The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization". Goodreads.
  11. ↑ "The Language of Thieves". WW Norton.
  12. ↑ "The Secret Code That Threatened Nazi Fantasies of Racial Purity". New York Times. 13 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Krauss, de Waal and Puchner make Wingate Prize longlist". The Bookseller.
  14. ↑ The Language of Thieves: The Story of Rotwelsch and One Family's Secret History. Granta. 2021. ISBN   978-1-78378-640-4.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  15. ↑ "Literature for a Changing Planet". Princeton University Press. 8 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Balch, Oliver (10 June 2022). "Literature for a Changing Planet — can storytelling save our climate?". Financial Times.
  17. ↑ "Literature for a Changing Planet". Publishers Weekly.
  18. ↑ "Culture". Norton. WW Norton. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  19. ↑ "Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop". The Key Reporter. 89 (4): 10–11. Winter 2024–2025. ISSN   0023-0804 – via Phi Beta Kappa.
  20. ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Martin Puchner". Archived from the original on 2022-02-21. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
  21. ↑ "The New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers Announces 2017-2018 Fellows".
  22. ↑ "James Russell Lowell Prize Winners | Modern Language Association". Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
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