Author George Saunders spoke to TIME about optimism in writing, our craving for stories, and General Custer
his book exploring short stories by Russian greats like Turgenev, Chekhov, and Gogol. Returning to one’s own short fiction after dissecting and exalting those masterworks takes a certain amount of guts. But readers can be assured that all the hallmarks of Saunders’ writing that electrified them from the beginning are present in his new collection,bold original humor, the blurred view of American life, and the sweet humanity that pierces through it all.
TIME: How did it feel to return to short stories, the form that you first became known for, after publishing your novel?I was working on a story about Mother’s Day that’s in this book. It feels like a long hike—I’m trying to get to a place where I can use the short-story form to better model how I actually feel about things. So there’s some joy, some fear, some loathing, some celebration. And with each book I’m getting closer to that place.
It might have to do with the times in which it was written, because the highest form of wisdom I could find to get through the last three or four years is to say something like, “Admit everything. Admit all sides of the issue. Admit my own confusion about what’s going on politically and with COVID.” And don’t try to do what I might normally do, which is to tilt toward optimism or a sort of facile accommodation. Life is complicated. Let’s leave everything in.
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