Transcription

Ben Lerner's 'Transcription' is a compact novel that follows an unnamed narrator whose phone breaks the night before a crucial interview, forcing him to rely on memory and presence; this incident unfolds into reflections on technology, ethics, and the construction of narratives.

Lerner blurs autobiography and fiction, interrogating how events are recorded, remembered and transformed into stories.

The novel examines interpersonal relationships and the journalist's dilemma of capturing truth without intrusive tools.

Stylistically spare yet intellectually dense, it layers philosophical inquiries about art and language over an intimate personal crisis.

'Transcription' continues Lerner's interest in the ethics of representation and the instability of factual accounts within contemporary media culture.