Effe, Alexandra. “Ben Lerner’s 10:04 and the “Utopian Glimmer of [Auto]fiction”.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 67 no. 4, 2021, p. 738-757. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mfs.2021.0039.

• This journal discusses the genre of autofiction and its relation to 10:04. It discusses the Anthropocene and how the novel may bring readers some will to take action within their real everyday world. I think this would be beneficial to my paper as it addresses other articles and people whom they both agree and disagree with. 

Gilroy, Marty. “Reading the Global City: Crisis, Cognitive Mapping and the ‘Urban Sensorium’ in Tom McCarthy’s Satin Island and Ben Lerner’s 10:04.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, vol. 24, no. 1, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A723635908/AONE?u=cuny_hunter&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=27c19223. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022.

• It discusses the way 10:04 was written as well as the importance of the details mentioned within the novel.  Gilroy compares two opposing novels, 10:04 and Satin Island. I think this would be beneficial to create more depth as well as disagreement into my paper. 

Leonid Bilmes (2020) ‘an actual present alive with multiple futures’: narrative, memory and time in Ben Lerner’s 10:04, Textual Practice, 34:7, 1081-1102, DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2018.1515789

• Leonid discusses the concept of time, memory, and experience within this essay. Discusses the narrator of 10:04 and the issue of climate change discussing how the future could be saved by visiting the past. I think this is interesting and through further reading could allow for some deeper discussion that isn’t a disagreeing or agreeing voice. 

Segnit, Nat. “Same-same, but different: Ben Lerner’s triumphant flickering between fictional and non-fictional modes.” TLS. Times Literary Supplement, no. 5814, 5 Sept. 2014, p. 19. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A683229041/AONE?u=cuny_hunter&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=6ab1ff6b. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022.

• Segnit mainly discusses the unusualness and creativity behind Lerner’s 10:04. It’s an analysis of the evolving plot in relation to the changing modes. I believe I can use this as not necessarily a supporting voice but as a basis in which I can reference and later add on as I discuss my thesis. 

Vermeulen, Pieter. “How Should a Person Be (Transpersonal)? Ben Lerner, Roberto Esposito, and the Biopolitics of the Future.” Political Theory, vol. 45, no. 5, 2017, pp. 659–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44509445. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022.

• Overall Vermeulen discusses the importance of the narrator’s future in the grand scheme. He tackles background info of the title and other important factors. I would use this excerpt as an opposing voice and address contradicting voices. 

1. Effe, Alexandra. “Ben Lerner’s 10:04 and the “Utopian Glimmer of [Auto]fiction”.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 67 no. 4, 2021, p. 738-757. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mfs.2021.0039.
2.  Gilroy, Marty. “Reading the Global City: Crisis, Cognitive Mapping and the ‘Urban Sensorium’ in Tom McCarthy’s Satin Island and Ben Lerner’s 10:04.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, vol. 24, no. 1, Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A723635908/AONE?u=cuny_hunter&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=27c19223. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022.
3. Leonid Bilmes (2020) ‘an actual present alive with multiple futures’: narrative, memory and time in Ben Lerner’s 10:04, Textual Practice, 34:7, 1081-1102, DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2018.1515789
4. Segnit, Nat. “Same-same, but different: Ben Lerner’s triumphant flickering between fictional and non-fictional modes.” TLS. Times Literary Supplement, no. 5814, 5 Sept. 2014, p. 19. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A683229041/AONE?u=cuny_hunter&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=6ab1ff6b. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022.
5. Vermeulen, Pieter. “How Should a Person Be (Transpersonal)? Ben Lerner, Roberto Esposito, and the Biopolitics of the Future.” Political Theory, vol. 45, no. 5, 2017, pp. 659–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44509445. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022.

In order to find the sources and complimentary voices as well as opposing ones, I first started using what I was comfortable with. Google Scholar was my first step and I started by simply searching for the title of the book in the search engine. I had not come up with multiple results and so changed search engines as well as what I had searched up. Next I used JSTOR, as well as ONESEARCH, the Hunter Library. Merely searching up the title of the book led to a large number of results, tons of which were not relevant to my research question. I then began to search up the title of the novel along with key phrases to narrow down the results which had overall led me to some articles that I could use. 

It is no surprise that this novel started off with a confusing start, we are immediately thrown into the mind of the narrator in the dullest of moments. It is possibly excruciatingly hard to fully pay attention when we are reading every single detail of the narrator’s life. The entirety of the book seems like a personal diary with every single thought. As stated in class, the details narrated are considered boring and not necessarily novel-worthy. In other words, we are given the “mundanity” of everyday life for a lack of better words. However, because of this, we are able to psycho-analyze the narrator and the way he perceives the world around him. That being said, it’s a fair analysis to say that the narrator seems to be afraid in many senses. He is by far not a confident or sure character and doesn’t seem to have a strong mental mindset. I believe that the format of the book, the run-on sentences, the lack of structure, and the entire chaos of it speaks volumes to who the narrator really is. The book is his mind, the readers are in the narrator’s mind in its purest form. There are multiple occurrences in which he will find ways to put himself down. He seems to have unrequited emotions for his best friend and it’s an interesting possibility that although he may act as if he has some confidence, his failed attempt to seduce Alex has definitely left an impact on his self-esteem. Although I would not blame this unsureness on Alex as the issue runs deeper. The narrator seems to be afraid of many things, he’s worried about the world that is slowly and inevitably dying. He can’t seem to find a stable relationship that meets his standards or any for that matter. On top of that, he is worried about possibly co-parenting with Alex and bringing a child into the world that he is undeniably afraid of. That being said it can be argued that he is only helping to create the child in fear of dying without leaving something for the world to remember him by. I find it incredibly interesting just how much his fear really drives him to make certain decisions and just how much the complexity behind the novel speaks volumes to the complexity of the narrator’s mind itself. 

What is the importance of the inclusion of minorities in Lauren’s entourage if we were to take Clausen’s advice and read Parable of the Sower as a “How-To” guide?

10:04 is an intellectually challenging novel to truly understand to say the least. It’s no surprise that I say it begins and we are immediately sprung into action learning about a meeting between an author in the book with his publisher. To be clear it is unclear who this author is as he is not given a name. We are immediately raised with the question of who the mysterious middle-aged author could be and if he will be a relevant character moving forward. It also raises the idea of Ben Lerner projecting himself in his novel as the author. Learning about the narrator/unnamed author we are introduced to the fact that he has a fatal heart condition that could potentially be deadly. The narrator’s heart condition reminds me of Parable of The Sower’s character Lauren and her “issue” with hyper-empathy. It is interesting the way the two characters are both projected to have a personal setback in a sense in two different novels. I would say it sets an important message to how differences are seen however I would like to argue that the narrator of 10:04’s heart problem is displayed as an life altering issue as a surgery is necessary to care for it, similar to Lauren’s inability to not personally feel all the pain and emotion that those around her feel. The two matters are similar although obvious differences. 

Within Parable, Lauren created a family/team of misfits or otherwise minorities within their given society after the destruction of her community. Throughout the novel there is an undeniable sense of changing which brings up the concept of change in 10:04. In a decision to accept anesthesia as a sedative for his Wisdom Teeth surgery, the narrator brings up interesting beliefs surrounding the idea of change. I am able to get the feeling that there is a part of him that is scared of change and the world around him changing without any control. He undeniably feels that he has a lack of control of what is going on around him for multiple understandable reasons, his heart condition inevitably being one of them. However I believe moving forward the concept of change and the reluctance behind inevitable change will be a major issue within 10:04.