A Human Conversation with Writer George Saunders

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last fall, George Saunders published Liberation Day, his first short-story collection in nine years. This week, we return to our conversation with the beloved author.

At the top, we discuss his process creating the book (3:40), the influence of Chekhov and Gogol (4:56), and a timely passage on democracy from “Love Letter” (8:35). Then, we unpack how he builds stories (13:30), a guiding philosophy from our first talk (14:58), and an excerpt from the titular story, “Liberation Day” (21:30).

On the back-half, we talk about the power of revision through “Elliott Spencer” (27:40), the seeds of the book’s moving final story, “My House” (36:34), the ‘failures in compassion’ it reveals (40:50), Saunders’ enduring relationship with his wife (45:08), and how he hopes to continue surprising himself as a writer, at 63 (48:40).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm standing for girls, so welcome to the show. Today I wanted to return to my conversation with writer George Saunders.
0:47.1	He is the author of books like A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, Lincoln in the Barto,
0:51.8	and the 10th of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award back in 2013.
0:57.6	He's also contributed to the New Yorker magazine since 1992 and has been called the best short story writer in English by Time magazine.
1:07.0	Last fall he published Liberation Day, his first short story collection in nine years.
1:13.6	True to form, each short story contains a mix of humor, joy, and despair,
1:20.3	as he grapples with these timely ideas around oppression and revolution, free speech and
1:27.2	civil liberties.
1:28.8	The book was released in paperback earlier this month, and if you haven't read it yet I love this line from
1:35.2	George's publisher Andy Ward who said the book is about the way we lose sight of
1:40.7	our humanity through little failures and compassion.
1:45.5	And that refrain, especially after the week we have had, with everything that's happening
1:51.2	right now between Israel and Palestine, it's something I feel we ought to hold on to.
1:57.0	Obviously, compassion alone cannot solve what's happening, but it's certainly a place to start. And, you know, no podcast can undo
2:06.7	the pain, the brutality of this moment. We can't explain it away either, but we can sit with it, hold space for it, and that is something we will
2:18.2	be doing on the show in the months ahead.
2:21.6	Until then, I hope whoever you are, wherever you are, that you are safe and sound.
2:27.2	I hope your loved ones are safe and sound.
2:30.5	And I hope this conversation offers just a little bit of light in what has been a dark, dark week.
2:40.4	This is George Saunders.
2:59.0	pleasure to have you.
3:00.8	Pleasure to be here.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lemonada Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lemonada Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.