Ruth Franklin
{{short description|American literary critic}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ruth Franklin
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, United States
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Author
| education =B.A., English Language and Literature, 1995, Columbia University
M.A., comparative literature, Harvard University
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| website = {{URL|ruthfranklin.net}}
| spouse(s) =
| children =
| awards = National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography
| notable_works =
}}
Ruth Franklin is an American literary critic. She is a former editor at The New Republic and an Adjunct professor at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her first biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2016.
Early life and education
Growing up, Franklin attended the Park School of Baltimore.{{cite web |title=Outcomes: Alumni Stories |url=https://www.parkschool.net/about/outcomes/ |website=parkschool.net |access-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330183527/https://www.parkschool.net/about/outcomes/ |archive-date=March 30, 2020}} During her senior year of high school, Franklin interned at a newspaper where she experienced sexual harassment from older reporters.{{cite web |title=Columbia Women Write 'New York Times Magazine' Essays on Sexual Harassment |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/news/wricolumbia-women-write-new-york-times-magazine-essays-sexual-harassment |website=arts.columbia.edu |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=December 26, 2017}} After graduating, Franklin enrolled in Columbia University for her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature. She later graduated from Harvard University with a Master's degree in Comparative Literature.
Career
In 1999, Franklin began her literary critiquing career at The New Republic.{{cite web |title=Ruth Franklin|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/ruth-franklin/ |website=gf.org |access-date=April 29, 2020}} While working as a senior critic, she published her first book titled A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction in 2010. In Franklin's book A Thousand Darknesses, she critiqued the assumption that Holocaust survivor testimonies were completely factual and should be taken as such. "Her study questions the privileging of autobiography over fiction and endorses imagination as a form of truth-telling," wrote Heidi E. Bollinger.{{cite journal |last1=Bollinger |first1=Heidi E. |title=A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction by Ruth Franklin (review) |journal=The Autobiography Society |date=Summer 2013 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=171–174 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/513943 |access-date=April 29, 2020}} Franklin instead argued that Holocaust literature was better understood through fiction.{{cite web |last1=Tracy |first1=Marc |title=Higher Truth |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/51978/higher-truth |website=tabletmag.com |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=December 2, 2010}} As a result, she was the co-recipient of the 2012 Roger Shattuck Prize for Criticism alongside David Yaffe{{cite web |last1=Enslin |first1=Rob |title=SU English professor wins prestigious Shattuck Prize in criticism |url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2012/04/17/roger-shattuck-prize-in-criticism/ |website=news.syr.edu |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=April 17, 2012}} and named a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize.{{cite web |last1=Firestone-Teeter |first1=Naomi |title=Meet Sami Rohr Prize Finalist…Ruth Franklin |url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/meet-sami-rohr-prize-finalistruth-franklin |website=jewishbookcouncil.org |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=February 9, 2012}}
The following year, she was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and began writing her second book, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life. She spent six years conducting research for her book, including sorting through Jackson's archives at the Library of Congress.{{cite web |title=Featured Fellow: Ruth Franklin |url=http://nyihumanities.org/all-features/ruth-franklin |website=nyihumanities.org |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=March 17, 2017}} Upon its publication, she won the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography{{cite web |last1=Zax |first1=Talya |title=Ruth Franklin Wins National Book Critics Circle Award |url=https://forward.com/fast-forward/366331/ruth-franklin-wins-national-book-critics-circle-award/ |website=forward.com |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=March 17, 2017}} and was named a finalist for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography.{{cite web |title=2017 PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY |url=https://pen.org/2017-penjacqueline-bograd-weld-award-biography/ |website=pen.org |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=January 18, 2017}} The book was also named a New York Times Notable Book of 2016{{cite news |title=100 Notable Books of 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2016.html |access-date=April 29, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=November 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202062025/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2016.html |archive-date=December 2, 2019}} and one of Time magazine's top nonfiction book of the year.{{cite web |last1=Begley |first1=Sarah |title=The Top 10 Nonfiction Books |url=https://time.com/4571633/top-10-nonfiction-books-2016/ |website=Time |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=November 22, 2016}} The following year, she received the 2017 Phi Beta Kappa Society Book Award{{cite web |title=Ruth Franklin '91 Wins 2017 Phi Beta Kappa Society Book Award |url=https://www.parkschool.net/news/story/ruth-franklin-91-wins-2017-phi-beta-kappa-society-book-award/ |website=parkschool.net |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=October 6, 2017}} and Plutarch Award.{{cite web |title=Ruth Franklin Wins 2017 Plutarch Award |url=https://biographersinternational.org/news/ruth-franklin-wins-2017-plutarch-award/ |website=biographersinternational.org |access-date=April 29, 2020 |date=2017}}
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list |date=February 2023}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}
= Books =
- A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction (2010)
- Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (2016)
=Essays, reporting and other contributions=
- Foreword to Shirley Jackson: A Companion (2021)
- {{cite journal |date=September 13, 2021 |title=Into the void : a cautionary tale about science raises cautionary questions about fiction |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=28 |pages=73–76 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/a-cautionary-tale-about-science-raises-uncomfortable-questions-about-fiction }}Reviews, inter alia, Benjamin Labatut's When we cease to understand the world. Online version is titled "A cautionary tale about science raises uncomfortable questions about fiction".
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;Notes
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References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American literary critics
Category:American women critics
Category:American women non-fiction writers
Category:Anthony Award winners
Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers
Category:New York University faculty
Category:The New Yorker people
Category:American women literary critics