Its funny and affecting and as meticulous and knowing in its execution of itself, i feel, as bens poetry. The explosions killed 193 people and injured around 2,000. Ben lerner in madrid on a fellowship, a young american poet examines his ambivalence about authenticity. The stated goal of his fellowship is to write a long narrative. Leaving the atocha station paperback third place books. This is not a book to pick up if you are in a mood for a quick read, a suspenseful, plot driven novel if you arent in a mood to enjoy ben lerners lovely prose and to sit back and think about what he is writing, then wait to start leaving the atocha station until you are, so you dont miss out on a very good book. Leaving the atocha station is essentially false, suggesting through lerners writerly skill the existence of an emergent, mature sensibility while offering nothing in the plot itself to indicate that the narrator could plausibly possess or acquire this sensibility. Leaving the atocha station by ben lerner 2011, paperback. Which is all to say that this book is suddenly one of my very favorites and i have a serious crush on ben lerners brain.
Oct 06, 2018 leaving the atocha station is a more modest book than, for example, roths operation shylock, but still provides compelling narrative even without a grandiose plot. Adam gordon, a poet, having bluffed his way into a fellowship in madrid, makes friends, struggles with spanish, smokes. Life without plot in leaving the atocha station fresh air. November 7, 2011 lerner captures the sense of everyday life with an unusual focus on thoughts rather than incident, betting on the. Before it, he published three well received books of smallpress modernist poetry, and probably no one will be surprised to hear that he has. Life without plot in leaving the atocha station lerner captures the sense of everyday life with an unusual focus on thoughts rather than incident, betting on the premise that these thoughts are. Leaving the atocha station paperback parnassus books. Ben lerners the topeka school revisits the debates of the. Leaving the atocha station is remarkable for its ability to be simultaneously warm, ruminative, heartbreaking, and funny. Jan 15, 2012 although leaving the atocha station might come off as a first person, autobiographical novel about the authors time in spain, the primary motivation behind its existence is the consideration of. Ben lerners the topeka school revisits the debates of. Although leaving the atocha station might come off as a first person, autobiographical novel about the authors time in spain, the primary motivation behind its existence is.
Leaving the atocha station is, centrally, about communication and. Ben lerners debut novel, leaving the atocha station is one of the most compelling books about nothing ive ever read. Ben lerners leaving the atocha station deb olin unferth. Adam gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young american poet on a prestigious fellowship in madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. The station is one of spains busiest travel hubs, serving 90 million passengers every year. Ben lerner adam gordon is a brilliant young american poet on a prestigious fellowship in madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. I came to realise that far more important to me than any plot. Lerner uses adam to poke at the american intelligentsia in europe. Their comments and ratings range from the onestar to the fivestar, which reveal a lot about the kind of reaction this slim book provokes. Leaving the atocha station is, among other things, a characterdriven pageturner and a concisely definitive study of the actual versus the virtual as applied to relationships, language, poetry, experience. Oct 03, 2019 a profound experience of art italics his. Leaving the atocha station by ben lerneri is a well contructed book, and interesting to a point, a bit too far back in time which now moves along so quickly, and of course, the reading gets a bit tiring with hash, drugs etc. Madrid atochas beautiful original train shed opened in 1892. The discombobulating words strike me as shortcircuited, electric and nonlinear as a mind lit on fire, endlessly folding into itself in pleasure and pain.
A novel by ben lerner august 23, 2011 6 x 9 186 pages 9781566892742 from a national book award finalist, this hilarious and profound first novel captures the experience of the young american abroad while exploring the possibilities of art and authenticity in our time. Buy leaving the atocha station by ben lerner from amazons fiction books store. Leaving the atocha station 2011 is the debut novel by american poet and critic ben lerner. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. The book marks lerners transition from poetry to prose.
A novel by ben lerner august 23, 2011 6 x 9 186 pages 9781566892742 from a national book award finalist, this hilarious and profound first novel. Leaving the atocha station is the first novel of poet turned novelist ben lerner. Leaving the atocha station summary supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. This is the setup for ben lerner s cerebral debut novel, leaving the atocha station, set in madrid immediately before and during the savage terrorist bombing of the citys main train station. To ask other readers questions about leaving the atocha station, please sign. Aug 01, 2011 leaving the atocha station is a bildungsroman and meditation and slacker tale fused by a precise, reflective and darkly comic voice adam gordon, a poet, having bluffed his way into a fellowship in madrid, makes friends, struggles with spanish, smokes hash, wanders around, writes poetry, doubts poetry and has two lowenergy love affairs. Leaving the atocha station is ben lerners first novel. Life without plot in leaving the atocha station lerner captures the sense of everyday life with an unusual focus on thoughts rather than incident, betting on the premise that these thoughts are the events, rather than the stuff in between them. The firstperson narrator of the novel, adam gordon, is an american poet in his early 20s participating in a prestigious fellowship in madrid circa 2004. Leaving the atocha station by ben lerner goodreads.
Adam does very little but walk from celebrated place to celebrated place, brooding, doubting himself, halfunderstanding whats said to him, and being increasingly ugly to the people around him. He teaches in the writing program at brooklyn college. There has been a station here since 1851, although the old trainshed dates from 1892. Leaving the atocha station paperback carmichaels bookstore. It is also a poem, dedicated to the gulf between self and selfego and alter ego, true me and false me, present self and outgrown past. One of the best books from indie publishers in 2011. Leaving the atocha station tells the story of adam, a poet on a prestigious yearlong fellowship in madrid. That volume is split into roughly 60 million passengers on local cercania services, 11 million in midhaul and longhaul trains and 19 million passengers on the metro system all in one building.
However the poetry theme does carry you on to the end. His first novel in an enjoyable journey through the mental machinations of an ambitious young writer, adam gordon. Its one of my favourite stations, a beautiful historic trainshed now a tropical garden, next to a modern terminus with highspeed trains to barcelona, the costa del sol and andalucia. Shelf unbound leaving the atocha station is compelling. Jul 12, 2012 leaving the atocha station is ben lerners first novel. His first novel, leaving the atocha station, came out to great acclaim in 2011.
Leaving the atocha station proves hes a droll and perceptive observer, and a firstrate novelist. What leaving the atocha station says about america the new. Leaving the atocha station is a novel for poets, liars, and equivocatorsthat is, for aspects of us all. What leaving the atocha station says about america the. Shylock, but still provides compelling narrative even without a grandiose plot. Leaving the atocha station is a bildungsroman and meditation and slacker tale fused by a precise, reflective and darkly comic voice adam gordon, a poet, having bluffed his way into a fellowship in madrid, makes friends, struggles with spanish, smokes hash, wanders around, writes poetry, doubts poetry and has two lowenergy love affairs.
Leaving the atocha station by ben lerner, paperback barnes. Dec 10, 20 leaving the atocha station steel infected bumps the screws everywhere wells perhaps this is a naive reading, but to my mind the poem is intensely erotic, sexual, orgasmic even. Adam gordon is a senior at topeka high school, class of 1997. Ben lerners leaving the atocha station hyperallergic. Leaving the atocha station paperback the elliott bay book. Lerner writes with the neurotic detachment characteristic of many of his contemporaries.
The 2004 madrid train bombings also known in spain as 11m were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the cercanias commuter train system of madrid, spain, on the morning of 11 march 2004 three days before spains general elections. Nov 07, 2011 life without plot in leaving the atocha station fresh air. Were considering expanding this synopsis into a fulllength study guide to deepen your comprehension of the book and why its important. Before it, he published three well received books of smallpress modernist poetry, and probably no one will be surprised to hear that he has indeed spent a year doing some sort of research in madrid. Thats what the young american poet adam gordon appears to be chasing at the start of ben lerners first novel, leaving the atocha station. Adam gordon, the narrator of ben lerners subtle, sinuous, and very funny first novel, leaving the atocha station coffee house. Description of the book leaving the atocha station. The novel is narrated by adam gordon, a young american poet on fellowship in madrid, where hes supposedly researching a project on the.