The Shakespeare and Company Interview Ben Lerner on Transcription
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Apr 15, 2026 
Ben Lerner, a poet-novelist who blends criticism and fiction, discusses his novel Transcription. He talks about how devices shape attention and human relationships. He considers voice, memory, and recordings as time-traveling media. He reflects on intergenerational transmission, caregiving, and literature’s role in reshaping perception.
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Humans Function As Media More Than Phones Do
- Phones feel phenomenologically opaque; their specific mechanics matter less than the attention economies they enable.
- Ben Lerner emphasizes humans function as media too, speaking through others so the novel focuses on human-mediated voice rather than device detail.
Novel's Distance Lets It Make New Technology Ancient
- The novel form's distance from new tech is its strength: it can show a technology is both unprecedented and part of an ancient tradition.
- Lerner cites Proust hearing a grandmother's voice on the phone as an example of disembodied voice altering perception of age and presence.
Resist Algorithmic Metrics And Protect Attention Oases
- Resist measuring literature by algorithmic popularity; instead cultivate 'attention oases' that solicit sustained reading.
- Lerner suggests refreshing wonder and developing alternative metrics rather than internalizing social-media metrics.
