Benjamin Moser (born September 14, 1976) is an American writer and translator.
Biography
Born in
Houston, Moser attended St. John's School and graduated from
Brown University with a degree in history. He came to Brown with the intention of studying
Chinese language, but soon switched to Portuguese, a choice that would have great influence on his subsequent work.
He worked briefly in publishing and was living in New York City when he met his partner, Dutch novelist
Arthur Japin.
Moser then moved to several different cities in Europe before eventually settling in the Netherlands where he earned his MA and PhD from Utrecht University. He is the brother of author and progressive political activist
Laura Moser.
Career and work
Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
Moser’s first book,
, was published in 2009, and was widely recognized as introducing the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, up until that point largely unknown in the United States, to an international public.
"Despite a cult following of artists and scholars, Lispector has yet to gain her rightful place in the literary canon," wrote Fernanda Eberstadt in The New York Times Book Review. "Benjamin Moser’s lively, ardent and intellectually rigorous biography promises to redress this wrong ... His energetically researched, finely argued biography will surely win Lispector the English-language readership she deserves."
Reviews of the book, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, were overwhelmingly positive. “This is rich biographical material that gets only richer as Mr. Moser, a translator and a book critic for Harper’s Magazine, begins to unpeel the layers of her complicated life. Why This World sucks you … into its subject’s strange vortex. … Moser is a lucid and very learned tour guide, and his book is a fascinating and welcome introduction to a writer whose best work should be better known in this country,” wrote Dwight Garner in The New York Times.
In The New York Review of Books, Lorrie Moore wrote that the book was “impressively researched ... Well-written and remarkable ... He discusses her work in great detail, book after book, with sympathy and insight, and admirably eschews jargon ... Moser is impressive ... in his interest and take on Brazilian politics. Providing authoritative historical backdrop is his forte.”
The book was translated in many countries and was a bestseller in Brazil.
Autoimperialismo
In 2016, Moser published a book of essays in Portuguese called
Autoimperialismo: três ensaios sobre o Brasil (
Autoimperialism: Three Essays on Brazil). The book was dedicated to
Ocupe Estelita. Ocupe Estelita was an attempt to reclaim Brazilian urban spaces from the corporations that were changing the historic city of
Recife, seen as attempts to privatize public space for the benefit of the wealthy. Proceeds from the book were dedicated to the movement.
In his book, Moser described the constant violence of Brazilians upon other Brazilians as a form of “autoimperialism.” He described the rhetoric around the construction of the capital of Brasília, the statuary in São Paulo that honors the
bandeirantes, and the history of building in Rio de Janeiro that aimed to create a city unconnected to its own past through modern architecture. The book was noted for its harsh criticism of
Oscar Niemeyer.
The book received positive reviews
Sontag: Her Life and Work
In 2013, he was named the authorized biographer of the American writer
Susan Sontag.
In 2019, he published
, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2020.
The citation called it "An authoritatively constructed work told with pathos and grace, that captures the writer’s genius and humanity alongside her addictions, sexual ambiguities and volatile enthusiasms.
The book received critical attention from a number of outlets.
In Artforum, Terry Castle wrote: “Benjamin Moser’s Sontag . . . succeeds as it does—magnificently, humanely—by displaying the same intellectual purchase, curiosity, and moral capaciousness to which his subject laid so inspiring and noble a claim over a lifetime. ... Moser’s biography is a stunningly generous gift—to readers, obviously, but also to his subject. He is patient with her, truthful yet tender, recognizing both what was thrilling and what was cursed about her.”
In the Times Literary Supplement, Elaine Showalter wrote: “Engrossing . . . Sontag was avid, ardent, driven, generous, narcissistic, Olympian, obtuse, maddening, sometimes loveable but not very likeable. Moser has had the confidence and erudition to bring all these contradictory aspects together in a biography fully commensurate with the scale of his subject. He is also a gifted, compassionate writer.”
In The New Republic, Leslie Jamison wrote: “Utterly riveting and consistently insightful . . . The book takes this larger-than-life intellectual powerhouse—formidable, intimidating, often stubbornly impersonal in her work—and makes her life-size again . . . fascinating.”
In February 2023, it was announced that Kristen Stewart would be playing Sontag in a film adaptation of the book, directed by Kirsten Johnson.
The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters
In 2022, Moser published
The Upside-Down World, a personal account of his moving to the
Netherlands when he was young, and his encounters with the Dutch artists of the age of
Rembrandt and
Vermeer.
The book was praised as "a personal and stirring guide to the great Dutch painters … an excellent companion to the Dutch galleries: conversational and congenial, essayistic and elevating" by Sebastian Smee in the Washington Post.[The Washington Post, 11 October 2023]
The Wall Street Journal wrote that "Benjamin Moser confronts the world through the eyes of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Hals and others. (…) He is an exemplary museumgoer, the kind we should all aspire to be. (…) Mr. Moser interweaves personal memoir with observations he has gleaned from years of faithful looking at Dutch paintings."[The Wall Street Journal, 6 October 2023]
Jewish anti-Zionism, From the 19th Century to the Present Day
As of April 2025, Moser was writing a history of Jewish anti-Zionism.
He wishes to sharply separate Zionism from Judaism and Jewishness and tout the history of Jews opposed to Zionism and the state of Israel.
Translation work
Clarice Lispector translation project
Following his publication of
Why This World, Moser was named Series Editor at New Directions Publishing for a new translation of the complete works of Clarice Lispector.
The ongoing project, which now stretches to eleven volumes, was carried out with a team of translators, with Moser contributing several translations of his own.
The series has been recognized for its contribution toward the increased readership of Lispector. "The revival of the hypnotic Clarice Lispector has been one of the true literary events of the 21st century," wrote Parul Sehgal in The New York Times.
For his work as biographer, editor, and translator of Lispector, Moser was awarded the Prize for Cultural Diplomacy from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations in 2016.
On October 7, 2021, he was elected to one of the twenty chairs reserved for foreigners at the Brazilian Academy of Letters,
Other translation work
In addition to translations from Portuguese, Moser has also published translations from
French language.
Journalism
Moser served as New Books Columnist for
Harper's Magazine from 2009 to 2011,
and was a
Bookends columnist at
The New York Times Book Review.
Moser is currently a contributing writer at The Nation.
Personal life
Moser has lived in France, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.
He currently lives in
the Netherlands and in France.
His partner is the Dutch novelist
Arthur Japin.
Awards and honors
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2009 National Books Critics Circle Award (Biography) finalist for
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2014 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing finalist
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2016 Prêmio Itamaraty de Diplomacia Cultural
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2017 Guggenheim Fellowship
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2020 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for
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2021 Sócio Correspondente of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
Bibliography
Author
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Benjamin Moser, , Oxford University Press (2009)/Haus Publishing Limited, (US), 978-1906598426 (UK)
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Benjamin Moser, Autoimperialismo: três ensaios sobre o Brasil, Planeta, 2016
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Benjamin Moser, , Ecco 2019.
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Benjamin Moser, Frans Hals op de tweesprong, Arbeiderspers, 2020. ("Frans Hals at the Crossroads"; originally written as part of the Joost Zwagerman Lecture)
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Benjamin Moser, The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters, Liveright, 2023
Editor and translator for Clarice Lispector
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Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star, trans. Benjamin Moser. New Directions (2011) (US).
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Clarice Lispector, Água Viva, trans. Stefan Tobler. New Directions (2012) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, A Breath of Life, trans. Johnny Lorenz. New Directions (2012) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, Near to the Wild Heart, trans. Alison Entrekin. New Directions (2012) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, The Passion According to G.H., trans. Idra Novey. New Directions (2012) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, The Complete Stories, trans. Katrina Dodson. New Directions (2015) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, The Chandelier, trans. Benjamin Moser and Magdalena Edwards. New Directions (2018) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, The Besieged City, trans. Johnny Lorenz. New Directions (2019) (US)
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Clarice Lispector, An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures, trans. Stefan Tobler. New Directions (2020). (US)
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Clarice Lispector, The Woman Who Killed the Fish, trans. Benjamin Moser. New Directions (2022). (US)
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Clarice Lispector, The Apple in the Dark, trans. Benjamin Moser. New Directions (2023). (US)
Other translations
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Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, Pursuit: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery, trans. Benjamin Moser. Macmillan (2006)
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Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, Southwesterly Wind: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery, trans. Benjamin Moser. (2004)
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Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, December Heat: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery, trans. Benjamin Moser. Macmillan (2004)
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Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, The Silence of the Rain: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery, trans. Benjamin Moser. Macmillan (2003)
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Bernard-Henri Lévy, , trans. Benjamin Moser. Random House Publishing Group (2008)
Reviews
External links
