The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was April 22-23rd, and San Diego Literary Scene was there. One of the best events we attended was George Saunders' panel, moderated by Carolyn Kellogg.
George Saunders is the author of 9 books. His book, Tenth of December, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won the Folio Prize and the Story Prize. He has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, the PEN/Malamud Prize for excellence in the short story, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Many of his short stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's and GQ. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University. His first novel, Lincoln In The Bardo, was the main topic of conversation, but talk really covered a diverse range of areas.
Saunders was asked what he likes to read, and who is favorite authors are, and about when he started writing. Hemingway, Kerouac, Zadie Smith, Toni Morrison, Michael Herr were the writers who came immediately to mind, but Saunders admitted to idealizing Hemingway, in particular, for many years. Saunders said he came to writing rather late in his life. He said that he has a degree in geophysics, and worked in the oil-fields. After college, he worked as a field geophysicist. He ramped up his reading during the time he traveled for work. He'd been interested in reading since the third grade, "but I never realized writing could be a real job".
Saunders shared that he started his writing career working as a tech writer, first for a pharmaceutical company and then for an environmental engineering company. He said that it was during this time that he learned how language/words can be used to manipulate, and to hide or minimize truths when corporations want to avoid responsibility for their actions. For example, in the case of writing a report on toxic waste dumped on land near a pharmaceutical company, Saunders would write something like "the contaminants found were not typical for that particular area" rather than write specifics about what was found and it's connection to the company. He said that this was a very valuable lesson for him.
In discussing his 1st novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, Saunders said the seed of the novel was planted about 20 years ago, when he went to Washington D.C. and heard about the death of Willie Lincoln. He said, "My wife and I were on a tour of the city, and my wife’s cousin pointed out the Georgetown cemetery where Willie Lincoln was buried. She told us that Lincoln’s son had died while he was in office, and that he had made his way across town late at night, when nobody else around, and had gone into his son’s crypt and held the body. An image suddenly came into my mind of the president holding his dead son, and I turned to my wife and 'said this is a great story. Somebody should write that story'.” Even with his success as a writer, Saunders said he never thought that he would end up being the one to do it. Saunders said he didn't think that he had the “chops” to write the novel.
Saunders talked about the supernatural elements in the novel, which takes the single event - that of a grief-stricken President Lincoln holding his son - and then spins off into a completely unexpected direction. Willie and Abe Lincoln are not alone in the crypt on that night in 1862. They are surrounded by ghosts, a sort of Greek chorus of the dead who bicker and squabble, as they reveal their stories. Each ghost is stuck forever in whatever state they were in - mentally or physically - at the time of their death. For example, one of the ghosts was about to engage in sexual relations with his wife for the first time when he died, so he is a ghost with a perpetual erection. Lincoln In The Bardo is also a kind of historical fiction novel. Saunders said he read widely as part of his research for the book, and he found so much great information on the time period, he wanted to incorporate it into the novel. Saunders said he decided to have the ghosts act as historians, telling the history of the times through their personal stories. The ghosts are reporters.
Saunders was asked what his thoughts are about death and the afterlife. He responded, “If we do have any experience after life, it would be really surprising if it was just like what we had read or heard about.” Lincoln in the Bardo is a novel about grief. Saunders said that writing it put him more in touch with the reality of his own, eventual, death as well: “As I was writing it I could feel my own potential grief - you know, I think I’m so smart writing about these dead people, but nobody is getting out alive. I’m at the age now when some people who are very dear to me have gone over the cliff. I really loved that person and I won’t see him again. That’s it, that’s the way life is.”
Saunders said that, after delivering the manuscript for the book, he experienced “not quite depression, but disorientation" for about 2 months. “I really loved writing it, and I miss it,” he says.
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Labels: Author Appearances
