Benjamin Ivry

Benjamin Ivry is an American writer on the arts, broadcaster and translator.

Ivry authored biographies of Francis Poulenc, Arthur Rimbaud, and Maurice Ravel, as well as a poetry collection, Paradise for the Portuguese Queen. The latter contains poems that first appeared in, among other places, The New Yorker, the London Review of Books, The Spectator, Ambit Magazine, and The New Republic.

He has also translated books from the French by authors such as André Gide, Jules Verne, Witold Gombrowicz, and Balthus. Ivry has written about the arts for a variety of periodicals including The New York Observer, The New York Sun, New England Review, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, New Statesman, The New York Times, Bloomberg.com, and The Washington Post.

Selected bibliography

Biographies

  • Francis Poulenc, 1996, Phaidon, ISBN 0-7148-3503-X
  • Arthur Rimbaud, 1998, Absolute Press, ISBN 1-899791-71-X
  • Maurice Ravel: a Life, 2000, Welcome Rain, ISBN 1-56649-152-5, translated into Japanese by Shun Ishihara as *Mōrisu raveru: aru shōgai, 2002, Arufabēta, ISBN 4-87198-469-9

Poetry

  • Paradise for the Portuguese Queen: Poems by Benjamin Ivry, 1998, Orchises Press, ISBN 0-914061-69-0

Nonfiction

  • Regatta: a Celebration of The Art of Oarsmanship, 1988, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0-671-69936-9
  • Sighing For The Silvery Moon: English Music Hall Songs Reexamined, 2022, Wolke Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95593-323-4
  • Parlez-moi d’amour: Themes in French Popular Song from the Commune to World War II, 2023, Wolke Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95593-325-8

Translations

  • Without End: New and Selected Poems by Adam Zagajewski, translated by Benjamin Ivry with Renata Gorczynski and Clare Cavanagh, 2002, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, ISBN 0-374-22096-4
  • Magellania by Jules Verne, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2002, Welcome Rain Publishers, ISBN 978-1-56649-179-2
  • Judge Not by André Gide, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2003, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-02844-9
  • Vanished Splendors, a Memoir by Balthus, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2003, Ecco Press, ISBN 0-06-621260-X
  • Mon Docteur, Le Vin (My Doctor, Wine) by Gaston Derys with Watercolors by Raoul Dufy, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2003, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10133-3
  • A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes, by Witold Gombrowicz, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2007, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-12368-X
  • At Home with André and Simone Weil, by Sylvie Weil, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2010, Northwestern University Press, ISBN 978-0-8101-2704-3
  • Chinese Piano: or Dueling over a Recital, by Étienne Barilier, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2015, Verlag Traugott Bautz GmbH, ISBN 978-3-9594-8086-4
  • Clepsydra: Essay on the Plurality of Time in Judaism, by Sylvie Anne Goldberg, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2016, Stanford University Press, ISBN 978-0-8047-8905-9
  • Transmitting Jewish History: In Conversation with Sylvie Anne Goldberg, by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2021, Brandeis University Press, ISBN 978-1684580613
  • An Imperial Sake Cup and I, by Charnvit Kasetsiri, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2024, The Textbook Foundation, ISBN 978-6168292143
  • My Turbulent Life and 21 Years of Exile in the People’s Republic of China, by Pridi Banomyong, translated by Benjamin Ivry, 2026, ISEAS Publishing, ISBN 978-9815203851

Book chapters, prefaces, editions

References