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)

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(163)

Simon Critchley on Giving Up the Fantasy of Mastery

Simon Critchley on Giving Up the Fantasy of Mastery

Who better to bring remarkable clarity to the density of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time than the British philosopher and New School professor Simon Critchley? After decades spent studying and teach...

7 Okt 1h 37min

Jacques Pépin on “Taste Memory” and a Life in the Kitchen

Jacques Pépin on “Taste Memory” and a Life in the Kitchen

Jacques Pépin has long found beauty in simplicity—a glass of warm milk, a freshly sliced lemon, a garden-ripe tomato—and in transmitting knowledge from one hand to the next. Now 90, the French chef, a...

30 Sep 1h 14min

Iris van Herpen on Visualizing the Invisible Through Haute Couture

Iris van Herpen on Visualizing the Invisible Through Haute Couture

Iris van Herpen’s boundary-defying, otherworldly work exists somewhere between couture, sculpture, science, technology, architecture, and nature. For nearly two decades, the Dutch fashion designer has...

16 Sep 1h 19min

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 Jun 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 Jun 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 Jun 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 Mai 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 Mai 1h 13min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
e24-podden
rss-skravla-gar
rss-pa-konto
pengepodden-2
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
finansredaksjonen
utbytte
rss-orjasater
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
lederpodden
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
rss-fa-makro
rss-impressions-2
pengesnakk
okonomiamatorene