Benjamin Kunkel

{{Short description|American writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Benjamin Kunkel | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|12|14}} | birth_place = [[Glenwood Springs, Colorado]], U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = {{Hlist|Novelist|editor|political economist}} | education = [[Deep Springs College]]<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Columbia University]] ([[M. F. A.|MFA]]) }} '''Benjamin Kunkel''' (born December 14, 1972) is an American novelist and [[political economist]].<ref name="vulture1">{{cite web|last=Wallace |first=David |url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/03/benjamin-kunkel-marxist-novel-utopia-or-bust.html |title=How Benjamin Kunkel Went From Novelist to Marxist Public Intellectual |publisher=Vulture |date=2014-03-11 |accessdate=2023-03-03}}</ref>

He co-founded and is a co-editor of the journal ''[[n+1]].''

His novel ''Indecision'' was published in 2005; and ''Utopia or Bust: A Guide to the Present Crisis'', and ''Buzz: A Play & My Predicament: A Story'', were published in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16526.Benjamin_Kunkel|title=Benjamin Kunkel|website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/authors/benjamin-kunkel?page=1|title=Benjamin Kunkel|magazine=The New Republic}}</ref>

==Background and education== Benjamin Kunkel was born in [[Glenwood Springs, Colorado]], and grew up raised by hippie parents in [[Eagle, Colorado]], formerly a cow town and now a town for commuters to [[Vail, Colorado]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Foley |first=Dylan |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2008/12/25/state-treasures-essays-map-magic/ |title="State" treasures: Essays map magic|publisher=The Denver Post|date=2008-12-25 |accessdate=2023-03-03}}</ref><ref name="vulture1"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Benjamin Kunkel |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2021/march/in-boulder |title=Benjamin Kunkel | In Boulder · LRB 26 March 2021 |publisher=Lrb.co.uk |date= March 26, 2021|accessdate=2023-03-03}}</ref> He was educated at [[St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)|St. Paul's School]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire]].

He studied at [[Deep Springs College]] in [[California]], graduated with an A.B. from [[Harvard University]], and received his [[Master of Fine Arts|M.F.A.]] in Creative Writing at [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://literaturfestival.com/en/authors/benjamin-kunkel/ |title=Benjamin Kunkel |publisher=international literature festival berlin |date=2022-09-17 |accessdate=2023-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.themodernnovel.org/americas/other-americas/usa/kunkel/|title=Benjamin Kunkel | The Modern Novel|website=www.themodernnovel.org}}</ref><ref>[https://www.gawker.com/551382/benjamin-kunkel "Benjamin Kunkel,"] ''Gawker''.</ref>

==Career== In addition to regularly writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', Kunkel has written for the magazines ''[[Granta]]'', ''[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]]'', ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]'', ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', ''[[The London Review of Books]]'', ''[[The Believer (magazine)|The Believer]]'', and ''[[The New Yorker]]''.

Kunkel has written multiple short stories and book reviews for the print journal he started with friends from college and graduate school, ''[[n+1]]''. In the Fall 2004 issue, he published the short story "Horse Mountain," about an aging man. In the Spring 2005 issue, he published a review of [[J. M. Coetzee|J.M. Coetzee]]'s works, imitating Coetzee's then-recent novel ''[[Elizabeth Costello]]''. In the Fall 2005 issue, he published a short story "Or Things I Did Not Do or Say," about a man determined to kill another man.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-3/fiction-drama/or-things-i-did-not-do-or-say/ |title=Or Things I Did Not Do or Say | Issue 3 | n+1 |publisher=Nplusonemag.com |date=2011-05-25 |accessdate=2023-03-03}}</ref>

Much of Kunkel's work exhibits a preoccupation with global [[social justice]] and leftist politics, including the [[Marxist]] overview ''Utopia or Bust: A Guide to the Present Crisis'', the [[Kirchnerism|Kirchner]] essay ''Argentinidad'', and the anti-capitalist book ''The Commonist Manifesto''. Kunkel is a member of the editorial committee of ''[[New Left Review]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theartistsinstitute.org/artists/sept-dec-2017/benjamin-kunkel/ |title=Benjamin Kunkel |work=The Artists Institute |date= |accessdate=2023-03-03}}</ref>

==''Indecision''== ''Indecision'' was published by [[Random House]] in 2005. For the novel, in 2006 he won [[Prix du Premier Roman|Le Prix du Premier Roman étranger]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.buzz-litteraire.com/20061025492-prix-du-premier-roman-benjamin-kunkel-et-max-monnehay-laureats/|title=Prix du premier roman : Benjamin Kunkel et Max Monnehay lauréats !|first=Actu/Monde du|last=livre|date=October 25, 2006|website=BUZZ... littéraire : Critiques livres, romans et analyse}}</ref> ''Indecision'' begins with the acknowledgment, "For ''n+1.''"

[[Jay McInerney]] wrote in the ''New York Times Book Review'' that it was "The funniest and smartest coming-of-age novel in years."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/nov/20/fiction.features|title=Welcome to the political world|first=Stephanie|last=Merritt|newspaper=The Observer |date=November 20, 2005|via=The Guardian}}</ref> Kunkel has described the critically acclaimed novel as "overpraised."<ref>{{cite web|title=How Benjamin Kunkel Went From Novelist to Marxist Public Intellectual|url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/03/benjamin-kunkel-marxist-novel-utopia-or-bust.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=Vulture|date=March 11, 2014 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/books/review/28MCINER.html | title='Indecision': Getting It Together | newspaper=The New York Times | date=28 August 2005 | last1=McInerney | first1=Jay }}</ref>

==Writings and interviews== ===Archives of articles for other magazines=== * [http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/benjamin_kunkel Archive] of Kunkel's writings for ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]'' (1999–2005). * [http://www.believermag.com/contributors/?read=kunkel,+benjamin Archive] of Kunkel's writings for ''[[The Believer (magazine)|The Believer]]'' (2003).

===Reviews=== * [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17756 "The Ideal Husband"] – A review of [[D. H. Lawrence]]'s ''[[The Lost Girl]]''. Published in the ''[[New York Review of Books]]'' (February 24, 2005). * [https://archive.today/20130208234818/http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0107,kunkel,22245,10.html "The Unreal World"] – A review of [[Don DeLillo]]'s ''[[The Body Artist]]'', ''[[The Village Voice]]'' (February 14–20, 2001). * [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/books/review/lighthousekeeping-the-sea-of-love.html "The Sea of Love"] – A review of ''Lighthousekeeping'' by [[Jeanette Winterson]], in ''[[The New York Times]]'' (May 1, 2005) * "The Sameness of Different Things: Reading a new translation of ''Capital'' (discussed is ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy, volume 1'', by Karl Marx, edited by Paul North and Paul Reitter, translated by Paul Reitter, Princeton University Press, 2024, 944 pp.), ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'', vol. 350, no. 2100 (May 2025), pp. 81–85.

===Interviews and reading=== * [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4849360 "Benjamin Kunkel's Tale of Indecision"] – Kunkel reads from his novel on [[National Public Radio|NPR]], (September 17, 2005). * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/nov/20/fiction.features "Welcome to the political world"] – Interview with Benjamin Kunkel in [[The Observer]], (November 20, 2005). * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080724060213/http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2005/09/20/kunkel/print.html "Attack of the listless lads"] – Half-flippant, half-serious conversation with Kunkel about dating, relationships, and more theoretical gender relations in [[Salon.com|Salon]], (September 20, 2005).

==Further reading== * Kelly, Adam. "From Syndrome to Sincerity: Benjamin Kunkel's ''Indecision''." ''Diseases and Disorders in Contemporary Fiction: The Syndrome Syndrome''. Ed. Timothy Lustig and James Peacock. London: Routledge, 2013. 53-66. * Sauri, Emilio. "Cognitive Mapping, Then and Now: Postmodernism, ''Indecision'', and American Literary Globalism." ''Twentieth-Century Literature'' 57.3 (Fall/Winter 2011): 472-91.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060108215046/http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/kunkelbenjamin/indecision Metacritic Reviews] – A compendium of reviews on ''Indecision'' available through the internet on metacritic.com. * [http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/24751/ November 2006 NY Magazine article] * ''[http://nplusonemag.com/ n+1]'' website * [https://twitter.com/kunktation?lang=en Twitter page]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunkel, Benjamin}} [[Category:1972 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni]] [[Category:Deep Springs College alumni]] [[Category:Harvard Advocate alumni]] [[Category:Novelists from Colorado]] [[Category:American male novelists]] [[Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni]]