George Saunders on the Power of Fiction to Enliven the World

George Saunders on the Power of Fiction to Enliven the World

The novelist, essayist, and short-story writer George Saunders—widely celebrated for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo (2017), which won the Man Booker Prize, and book of short stories Tenth of December (2013)has made it his mission to “de-dullify” the world through his clear-eyed, empathic, often-puckish prose. There’s an unwavering spirit of generosity embedded in the way Saunders tells stories and teaches his craft that ensures his readers and students alike stay along for the ride. Saunders’s curiosity about the afterlife, a recurring motif in his writing, rises to the fore in his latest novel, Vigil, which follows a pair of ghostly figures as they visit the deathbed of a prideful, climate-change-denying Texas oil tycoon.

On this episode, he shares how practicing meditation has shifted his approach to writing and his outlook on life, the underlying importance of humor in his work, and why to be a good storyteller is akin to being a good host.

Special thanks to our Season 13 presenting partner, Van Cleef & Arpels.

Show notes:

George Saunders

[02:57] Vigil (2026)

[02:57] Lincoln in the Bardo (2018)

[17:41] Master and Man and Other Stories (1895)

[17:41] Tolstoy

[26:04] CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (1996)

[27:13] Esther Forbes

[27:13] Johnny Tremain (1943)

[31:49] John Steinbeck

[31:49] The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

[33:45] Kurt Vonnegut

[33:45] Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

[38:59] Terry Eagleton

[39:17] Mary Karr

[39:28] Jack Handey

[45:05] Jimi Hendrix

[49:58] Aldous Huxley

[52:49] Tobias Wolff

[55:29] A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (2021)

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(160)

Dries Van Noten on the Meaning Found in Making

Dries Van Noten on the Meaning Found in Making

Dries Van Noten’s lifelong fascination with craft and making runs deep. He grew up in a multigenerational family of retailers and tailors in Antwerp, and in the 1980s, he was part of the famed avant-g...

24 Kesä 59min

Felix Burrichter on Print’s Enduring Power in the Algorithmic Age

Felix Burrichter on Print’s Enduring Power in the Algorithmic Age

Through PIN–UP, the German-born, New York–based editor, curator, and founder Felix Burrichter continues to expand the possibilities of what an architecture magazine can be. He constructs intuitive bri...

17 Kesä 1h 20min

Maria Popova on the Role of Chance in Shaping Our Lives

Maria Popova on the Role of Chance in Shaping Our Lives

Through her multifaceted work, the Bulgarian-born, Brooklyn-based writer, reader, and researcher Maria Popova, founder of the “free, ad-free, A.I.-free, fully human” website and newsletter The Margina...

10 Kesä 58min

Sheila Hicks on Life as a Series of Portals

Sheila Hicks on Life as a Series of Portals

For our latest “site-specific” episode of Time Sensitive, Spencer meets Sheila Hicks inside her courtyard in Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, where she has called home for more than 60 yea...

27 Touko 1h 4min

Valerie June on Joy as a Form of Resistance

Valerie June on Joy as a Form of Resistance

The singer-songwriter Valerie June has a gift for writing contemporary songs that feel timeless and as though they could also have existed at various points across the past century. Her expansive laye...

13 Touko 1h 13min

Alma Allen on Connecting to the Primordial Through Art

Alma Allen on Connecting to the Primordial Through Art

There’s an animate quality to the biomorphic sculptures of the self-taught, Utah-born artist Alma Allen. His works, carved from wood, marble, and bronze—and informed by his deep appreciation for the n...

22 Huhti 1h 6min

Devon Turnbull on Elevating the Beauty of Sound

Devon Turnbull on Elevating the Beauty of Sound

To be in a room with one of the artist and audiophile Devon Turnbull’s texture-rich Ojas hi-fi audio systems may be the closest one can get to being in the studio with the musicians themselves. It’s n...

8 Huhti 1h 4min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
psykopodiaa-podcast
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rss-rahapodi
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
rss-inderes
rahapuhetta
pari-sanaa-lastensuojelusta
rss-porssipodi
hyva-paha-johtaminen
rss-lahtijat
rss-startup-ministerio
asuntoasiaa-paivakirjat
rss-oivalluksia-rahasta-elamasta
pomojen-suusta
rss-johtajatabut-aiheita-joista-ei-ole-tapana-puhua
rss-paasipodi
rss-bisneksen-pehmea-puoli
pelkkana-korvana