Ross Benjamin

A guest essay I wrote for @nytopinion on how the experience of translating Kafka’s diaries deepened my understanding of Kafka and of translation nytimes.com/2023/02/02/opi…

@DAMendelsohnNYC @Amtrak Was just on a new one to Boston and an old one back, and the old one was far better in all the ways you mentioned, plus a good deal more leg room and just overall comfort.

Literally *everything* about the new @Amtrak #NextGen #Acela is worse than its predecessor: harder seats, smaller trays, minimal seat back storage (nowhere to stash a laptop). And why they got rid of the closed overhead compartments is beyond me.

Bumbling your way through any language will always be better than popping in AirPods. The literary translator @rossmbenjamin on what we stand to lose in a world of instant translation: theatln.tc/ioNz966d

The everyday erosion of resistance: What I learned from translating Daniel Kehlmann’s ‘The Director’ abc.net.au/religion/ross-…

This month, the New York Public Library honored German novelist Daniel Kehlmann, along with a very distinguished group of other writers. Kehlmann was recognized for his breadth of work from his first global bestseller to his latest, "The Director." @CBSMMiller sat down with the acclaimed novelist.

Bumbling your way through any language will always be better than popping in AirPods. The literary translator @rossmbenjamin on what we stand to lose in a world of instant translation: theatlantic.com/books/2025/11/…

Shana Tova! New post on FRANZ: open.substack.com/pub/franzjourn…

Happy Sunday? Many thanks to @JudithShulevitz , author of THE SABBATH WORLD, for thinking through Kafka’s Sundays with me. Our exchange delves into a passage in one of Kafka’s early letters, where we discuss his “Sunday neurosis,” conflicted Jewishness, and complicated desires.

“An Onslaught Against the Boundary” open.substack.com/pub/franzjourn…

Pull quote: “Most people don’t think they’re capitulating; they think--or convince themselves--they’re protecting what matters.”

I wrote a piece for @derspiegel, on the US reception of Daniel Kehlmann’s THE DIRECTOR, my latest translation--a historical novel about G. W. Pabst, who fled the Nazis only to return and make films under them.

Damn it, how one would like to wake up the fellows in the coach, if one had a post horn.”

Posted my translation of the next Kafka letter on FRANZ, to Oskar Pollak in 1903.

More than twenty are already available—many of them appearing in English for the first time. franzjournal.substack.com/s/the-complete…

Franz Kafka was born on this day in 1883. To mark the occasion, consider subscribing to FRANZ, a Substack devoted to creative engagement with his work, including my translation of his complete letters, a new letter every other week, in chronological order.

Marvellous excerpt from "Angel Filth. Kafka’s Trial with his Father", a chapter from a forthcoming book by Michael Maar, on @rossmbenjamin's substk today!

Friday! eventbrite.com/e/kafka-and-th…