Wyatt Mason (born 1969) is an American journalist, essayist, critic and translator.
Background and education
Mason was raised in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. He attended
The Fieldston School in New York, the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, and also studied literature at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
.
Career
Mason is a contributing writer for ''
The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'' and was, from 2005 to 2017, a contributing editor at ''
Harper's Magazine'', for which he wrote the blog "Sentences" from 2008-2009. He has also written for ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
Esquire'', ''
GQ'' and ''
The London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review o ...
''. He taught in the graduate writing program a
Bennington Collegefrom 2009 to 2011 and now teaches a
Bard Collegewhere he is a Writer in Residence and a Senior Fellow o
The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities
Awards
Mason won a
National Magazine Award in 2006 for his writing in ''Harper's Magazine''. "At once compassionate and ruthless," the judges wrote, "Wyatt Mason seeks an understanding of his subject with endless erudition and a singular, tireless focus on quality. His criticism moves from the specific to bigger game – a defense of modernism and originality – and he’s not afraid to confront the authors with his findings."
Mason received a
National Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...
Nona Balakian Citation the same year. The NBCC called Mason "a critic of unrelenting energy and tough standards. He has exposed scholarly plagiarism, rescued dismissed writers from ignorance and oblivion, smartly scolded faddish novelists...and argued that many of us continue to confuse substance and surface in contemporary writers' work. Masterful at placing writers in dialogue with other writers...he always makes a case for new books he wants people to appreciate, embrace and struggle with."
Writing on the Web
on R.K. Narayan, from The New Yorkeron Javier Marias, from The New Yorker*
ttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/23534 on Louis-Ferdinand Céline from ''The New York Review of Books''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Wyatt
1969 births
Living people
American male non-fiction writers
People from Manhattan
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Columbia University alumni
American literary critics
Journalists from New York City
Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni