Martin Puchner

Martin Puchner is a literary critic and philosopher who is the Byron and Anita Wien Chair of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University.^[1] He is the founding director of the Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University.

His early work as a literary critic focused on modernism, especially such genres as the closet drama,^[2] the literary manifesto,^[3] and modern drama.^[4] His philosophical work concerns the philosophical dialogue and the intersections of theater and philosophy.^[5] His recent work focuses on large-scale projects in literature,^{[clarification needed]} technology, and cultural history. He is the general editor of the Norton Anthology of World Literature and lectures on world literature.^[6]

Education

He studied at Konstanz University, the University of Bologna, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, before receiving his Ph.D. at Harvard University.^[when?]

Career

Until 2009 he held the H. Gordon Garbedian Chair at Columbia University, where he also served as co-chair of the Theater Ph.D. program.^[7]

In 2017, he published The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization.^[8] The book won advance praise from Margaret Atwood.^[9] The book was widely reviewed and translated into twenty languages.^[10]

On October 13, 2020, W. W. Norton & Company published his book, The Language of Thieves: My Family's Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate.^[11][12] The book provides a familial account of the Germanic cant called Rotwelsch. It was long-listed for the Wingate Prize.^[13] Writing for The Guardian Michael Rosen called it "A book about history, language and culture wrapped up in a detective story... It feels as if the writer is peeling back the skin to reveal Germany. I found it fascinating."^[14]

In 2022 he published Literature for a Changing Language, based on the inaugural Lectures in European History at Oxford University.^[15] It calls for a new approach to storytelling in an era of climate change.^[16] Publishers Weekly described the book as "a stirring manifesto."^{[17][dubious – discuss]}

In 2023, he published Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-pop,^[18] which provides a global introduction to the arts and humanities. It was shortlisted for Phi Beta Kappa's 2024 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award.^[19]

Honors

In 2017, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship.^[20] He currently is a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library.^[21]

Bibliography

• 2002; 2011: Stage Fright: Modernism, Anti-theatricality and Drama. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• 2003: Against Theatre: Creative Destructions on the Modernist Stage. Editor, with Alan Ackerman. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• 2003: Six Plays by Henrik Ibsen, with an introduction and notes by Martin Puchner. New York: Barnes and Noble.
• 2005: Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings. With an introduction and notes by Martin Puchner. New York: Barnes and Noble.
• 2006: Theaterfeinde: Die anti-theatralischen Dramatiker der Moderne. Translated by Jan Kuveler. Freiburg: Rombach.
• 2006: Poetry of the Revolution: Marx, Manifestos, and the Avant-Gardes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Winner of the James Russell Lowell Award.^[22]
• 2007: Modern Drama: Critical Concepts. New York: Routledge ISBN 978-0-415-38660-9
• 2009: The Norton Anthology of Drama. Co-editor. New York: Norton.
• 2010: The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. Winner of the 2012 Joe A. Callaway Prize for best book in drama or theater.
• 2012: "The Norton Anthology of World Literature, 3rd edition." General editor. New York: Norton.
• 2017: "The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization. New York: Random House, 2017.
• 2020: The Language of Thieves. New York: Norton.
• 2022: Literature for a Changing Planet. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• 2022: Culture: A new world history. UK: Efinito. Published in the US in 2023 as Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-pop. New York: Norton.