The Topeka School

The Topeka School is a 2019 novel by the American novelist and poet Ben Lerner. The book is a bildungsroman.

The Topeka School
First edition cover
AuthorBen Lerner
Audio read byPeter Berkrot[1]
Nancy Linari[1]
Tristan Wright[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreBildungsroman
Set inTopeka, Kansas in the 1990s
PublisherFSG Originals
Publication date
October 1, 2019
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages304
ISBN978-0-374-27778-9
813/.6
LC ClassPS3612.E68 T63 2019

The novel was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[2]

Background and development

As in Lerner's previous novels, the narrative contains autobiographical elements. Like the central character, Adam Gordon, Lerner participated in high school debate.[3] Critics Rumaan Alam and Christine Smallwood have referred to the book as an example of autofiction.[4][5]

Setting

The novel mostly takes place in Topeka during the 1990s.[6][3][4]

Reception

According to literary review aggregator Book Marks, the novel received mostly "Positive" reviews.[7]

Writing for The Paris Review, Nikki Shaner-Bradford praised Lerner's prose.[8] Christine Smallwood, writing for Harper's, referred to Lerner as a "supremely gifted prose stylist, at once theoretical and conversational".[5] Garth Risk Hallberg in The New York Times Book Review acclaimed the novel as “a high-water mark in recent American fiction.”[9]

The book was named one of the top ten books of 2019 by both the New York Times Book Review[10] and the Washington Post.[11]

It was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.[12]

It was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[13]

References
  1. "The Topeka School - Digital Audio". Macmillan. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  2. Maher, John (May 4, 2020). "Moser, Whitehead, McDaniel, Grandin, Boyer, Brown Win 2020 Pulitzers". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. Leyshon, Cressida (20 May 2019). "Ben Lerner on Adolescence and His Forthcoming Novel". The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  4. Alam, Rumaan (20 September 2019). "The MAGA Plot". The New Republic. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  5. Smallwood, Christine (1 October 2019). "Novel, Essay, Poem". Harper's. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  6. Brady, Amy (October 2, 2019). "The Topeka of The Topeka School". Slate. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  7. "The Topeka School". Book Marks. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  8. Shaner-Bradford, Nikki (28 June 2019). "Staff Picks: Peonies, Poetry, and Passing Things". The Paris Review. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  9. Hallberg, Garth Risk (2019-10-03). "Ben Lerner's 'The Topeka School' Revisits the Debates of the '90s". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  10. "The 10 Best Books of 2019". The New York Times. November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  11. "Best Books of 2019". The Washington Post. November 21, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  12. "Announcing the finalists for the 2019 NBCC Awards – National Book Critics Circle". www.bookcritics.org. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  13. https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2020
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