“The Hassidim tell a story about the world to come that says everything there will be just as it is here. The quote Lerner uses as an epigraph might help shed some light on the nature of this novel-esque work of literature: But time itself seems to be an abstract and possibly illusory concept in this novel - besides the story arc of Alex and her quest for a baby, there is a surreal feel about all the events, like they might not actually have happened, or at least happened in an alternate reality. The narrator is writing a short story, and a novel, and attending a conference, and writing poetry due to a writer's block all at apparently the same time. His sexual partner/maybe-girlfriend is either called Alena or Hannah, and the narrator's true best friend, Alex/Liza, is a nebulous character whom the narrator impregnates as a favor.

The narrator can't decide what to call certain key figures in his life, as if he's alternating between several realities at once. well, everything, it seems: life, the city, the environment, time, and reality itself. Rather than relying on traditionally stable things like names, time, and reality, this book wields them like instruments, selectively using even these foundational concepts as tools to further the artistic vision.Īnd what is this artistic vision? It's simultaneously impossibly vast and oddly specific. It is not merely fiction, since it is partially autobiographical it is not merely literature, as it includes photographs and other nonfictional elements it not only bends time but completely shatters it, rearranging it into a nonlinear, confusingly ordered story if the mood strikes. This book is the epitome of metafiction: it is beyond mere fiction in almost every possible sense. Ben Lerner, the author of 10:04, sometimes seems to be speaking with his own voice to the reader, while at other times it's unclear whether he even has a name. It's not even clear if it's fictional: the author of the book may or may not be the narrator, who is the author of a short story about an author of a short story, and they may all actually be the same person. Written by people who wish to remain anonymousġ0:04 is a work of literature that defies all categorization. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Ben lerner 10 04 summary