George Saunders at Shakespeare & Company

So. The podcast that goes along with this is much shorter, which is why I prefer the video. Here it is in full: one of my favorite authors speaking at one of the world's best bookstores.

It's difficult not to love George Saunders. He's tremendously funny and dark, his characters refraining from indulging in the self-pity I find rather drippy in fiction sometimes. The epilogue to CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (along with the final story in that collection), Pastoralia more generally, and the title story in Tenth of December -- they all linger mightily in my mind, giving me some of the more formative moments I've had as a reader in the past few years.

Add Lincoln in the Bardo to this list, his first foray into the novel. If you first met Saunders here, I'd imagine it was something of a challenge. But it was such a magnificent book to me -- the brilliant examination of a concept I'd only really explored through the eyes of John Cage (the bardo) before. When I read it, I wouldn't shut up about it, and now I find myself just as unable to keep quiet about it. So many characters, so many voices, all so wonderfully woven.

Saunders is the rare writer, I think, whose interviews enhance his writing (and vice versa -- he has a brilliant moment in here where he's talking about creating distinct characters, and pulls a fantastic example of "ghosts talking about the patriarchy" out of thin air). There were moments in this where I felt happy to know about his mind, and felt constructively reflective about my own writing processes. Enjoy enjoy.