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Quote by George Saunders

“As the writer of this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], what I loved was the feeling of having so many surprises come at the end that I hadn't really planned or planted.”

Quote by George Saunders

Author

George Saunders

George Saunders, born on December 2, 1958, is an American writer known for his unique humor and profound insights. His works, primarily short stories, have gained widespread recognition and have been honored with numerous literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. more

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“I'm not thinking in any big thematic or conceptual terms - especially in this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] when I was trying to make the voices more active, more energetic.”

Thinking Trying Book Bigs Voice Term Active Energetic Thematic

Author:George Saunders

“Whole swaths of the book [Lincoln in the Bardo] are made up of verbatim quotes from various historical sources, which I cut up and rearranged to form part of the narrative.”

Made Book Whole Form Cutting Source Historical Various Narrative

Author:George Saunders

“There was one sequence of days [making Lincoln in the Bardo] when I had halfway decided to use the historical nuggets, but I wasn't quite sure it would work. I'd be in my room for six or seven hours, cutting up bits of paper with quotes and arranging them on the floor, with this little voice in my head saying, "Hey, this isn't writing!" But at the end of that day, I felt that the resulting section was doing important emotional work”

Writing Littles Important Ends Use Felt Bits Voice Hours Rooms Cutting Emotional Paper Six Decided Historical Seven Hey Sections Sequence Halfway Arranging Nuggets Voices In My Head

Author:George Saunders

“Later, I went one step further, by putting in some invented "historical" bits [into the Lincoln in the Bardo]. And reading those alongside the actual historical bits was like looking into a sort of a painful mirror, because "my" parts were so show-offy at first. They stood out because they were so flamboyant.”

Firsts Shows Reading Bits Steps Mirrors Historical Painful Flamboyant

Author:George Saunders

“I had to go in and do the work of toning [invented "historical" bits] down in order to make them fit [in Lincoln in the Bardo]. It's like if you're an actor and you're always overacting, well, you're a bad actor. But if you're an actor who subdues yourself to the extent that's necessary, then you're really acting.”

Ifs Wells Order Actors Bits Acting Fit Historical

Author:George Saunders

“[Lincoln in the Bardo] is not a long book. And that meant I could obsess over it and live in it both backwards and forwards and hyper-control everything.”

Long Book Over It Backwards Hyper Long Book

Author:George Saunders

“The beginning [of Lincoln in the Bardo] is strange, and I did a lot of work calibrating that so that a reader with a certain level of patience would get through it and in the nick of time start to figure out what was going on. In a short book, you can do that.”

Book Certain Can Do Levels Figures Strange Reader

Author:George Saunders

“I sometimes think that I can't do the bigger thing that [Zadie Smith] do so beautifully, as in Swing Time, with so much world in it and so much rapturous paint thrown around. I don't think it would be possible to write a book on that scale with as much OCD as I have.”

Thinking World Writing I Can Book Sometimes Would Be Bigger Paint Scales Thrown Swings Ocd

Author:George Saunders

“From the beginning [of the Lincoln in the Bardo], I actually had it in mind not to write a novel. I'd kind of gotten past that point where I felt bad for never having written a novel, even to where I felt really good about it, like I was a real purist.”

Writing Mind Kind Real Past Felt Novel Written

Author:George Saunders

“There were several points where I would kind of turn to the book and say, "Get thee behind me." I don't think real novelists do that. But I make a distinction between prose that's very efficiency-minded (like, the minimum I can get away with), versus loosening the screws and letting the words spill out beautifully and so on.”

Thinking Kind I Can Book Real Turns Behinds Thee Novelists Prose Distinction Get Away Efficiency Minimum Versus Screws Spills

Author:George Saunders