Benjamin Hoffmann
Benjamin Hoffmann is a French creative writer and professor at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He's the author of novels and essays published in France and the United States. He specializes in the literature and culture of eighteenth-century France, and is the author of books and articles on transatlantic studies, the introduction of Buddhism in the West, and literary theory.
Biography
Born in France in 1985, Benjamin Hoffmann studied literature and philosophy at the University of Bordeaux, Sorbonne University, and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. His first book, Le monde est beau on peut y voyager, was published in 2008 by Éditions Bastingage. In 2009, he became language assistant in the department of French at Amherst College. The sudden death of his father, Patrick Hoffmann, was the topic of his next book, Père et fils, published in 2011 by Éditions Gallimard. Also in 2011, he published his second novel, Anya Ivanovna with Éditions Bastingage. In 2015, he earned a Ph.D. from Yale University after finishing a dissertation dedicated to the representations of North America in eighteenth-century French Literature. He is currently Professor at The Ohio State University, where he teaches early modern French literature and creative writing.Awards
Hoffmann received the Best PhD Dissertation Award from the Department of French at Yale University in 2015. He also received a scholarship for academic excellence from the Sorbonne, and a Fellowship from the . He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2025.Books
La Guerre des os, novel, Paris, Éditions Denoël, coll. Romans français, 2026Je suis Murakami, novella, Paris, Éditions Zone Critique, coll. Vrilles, 2025Les Minuscules, novel, Paris, Éditions Gallimard, coll. Blanche, 2024 L'Île de la Sentinelle, novel, Paris, Éditions Gallimard, coll. Blanche, 2022 Les Paradoxes de la postérité, monograph, Éditions de Minuit, coll. Paradoxe, 2019, L'Amérique posthume, monograph, Éditions Classiques Garnier, coll. L'Europe des Lumières, 2019- Lezay-Marnésia, Lettres écrites des rives de l'Ohio, critical edition, Éditions Classiques Garnier, coll. Americana, 2019 American Pandemonium, novel, Paris, Éditions Gallimard, coll. L'Arpenteur, 2016 Père et fils, Paris, Éditions Gallimard, coll. L'Arpenteur, 2011 Anya Ivanovna, novel, Bordeaux, Éditions Bastingage, 2011 Le monde est beau on peut y voyager, novel, Bordeaux, Éditions Bastingage, 2008
Books in English
Sentinel Island, translated by Alan J. Singerman, Liverpool UP, 2024 The Paradoxes of Posterity, translated by Alan J. Singerman, Penn State UP, 2020 Posthumous America, translated by Alan J. Singerman, Penn State UP, 2018- Lezay-Marnésia, Letters Written from the Banks of the Ohio, translated by Alan J. Singerman, Penn State UP, 2017