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When I wrote that [Donald] Trump piece, I had this uncomfortable experience of sensing a lot of things that were nascent, that I couldn’t quite articulate. And one of them was this move toward anti-intellectualism. An anti-love move, even.

  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - I think in our time, you know, so much of the information we get is pre-polarized. Fiction has a way of reminding us that we actually are very similar in our emotions and our neurology and our desires and our fears, so I think it’s a nice way to neutralize that polarization. Download This Image

    I think in our time, you know, so much of the information we get is pre-polarized. Fiction has a way of reminding us that we actually are very similar in our emotions and our neurology and our desires and our fears, so I think it’s a nice way to neutralize that polarization.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - When I was a kid, I took ‘The Brady Bunch’ and ‘The Partridge Family’ very seriously. It was a world to me in the same way that the Greek myths would have been had I read them. You know, Marcia is Athena and Mr. Brady is Zeus. Download This Image

    When I was a kid, I took ‘The Brady Bunch’ and ‘The Partridge Family’ very seriously. It was a world to me in the same way that the Greek myths would have been had I read them. You know, Marcia is Athena and Mr. Brady is Zeus.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - The most hopeful thing in the stories, I hope, is wit. I make it up. If I make up a world in which we’re ruled by big talking turds, it doesn’t mean that we are. So you shouldn’t feel depressed.

    The most hopeful thing in the stories, I hope, is wit. I make it up. If I make up a world in which we’re ruled by big talking turds, it doesn’t mean that we are. So you shouldn’t feel depressed.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - The artist’s job, I think, is to be a conduit for mystery. To intuit it, and recognize that the story-germ has some inherent mystery in it, and sort of midwife that mystery into the story in such a way that it isn’t damaged in the process, and may even get heightened or refined.

    The artist’s job, I think, is to be a conduit for mystery. To intuit it, and recognize that the story-germ has some inherent mystery in it, and sort of midwife that mystery into the story in such a way that it isn’t damaged in the process, and may even get heightened or refined.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - Nostalgia is, ‘Hey, remember the other mall that used to be there?’ Download This Image

    Nostalgia is, ‘Hey, remember the other mall that used to be there?’

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - I think that fiction has a part to play in urging us, as a species, toward compassion. Download This Image

    I think that fiction has a part to play in urging us, as a species, toward compassion.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - The one thing about A Christmas Carol that always bothers me is that Cratchit is so sweet and perfect. He’s like an Ivy League kid who just is labeled “poor.” He doesn’t have any bad habits. He’s never cranky with his kids. Download This Image

    The one thing about A Christmas Carol that always bothers me is that Cratchit is so sweet and perfect. He’s like an Ivy League kid who just is labeled “poor.” He doesn’t have any bad habits. He’s never cranky with his kids.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - My go-to default is to try to be nice, which I feel does less harm in the long run than trying to be, say, assertive. If I am nice and maybe too passive, I find that easier to live with. Download This Image

    My go-to default is to try to be nice, which I feel does less harm in the long run than trying to be, say, assertive. If I am nice and maybe too passive, I find that easier to live with.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - …smile first, then speak.

    …smile first, then speak.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - If you’re going to make an emotional connection with somebody, whether it’s in the story or in the world, there’s a certain amount of self-acceptance that is required.

    If you’re going to make an emotional connection with somebody, whether it’s in the story or in the world, there’s a certain amount of self-acceptance that is required.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - The book says [Lincoln in the Bardo],”I really need this sci-fi device of a ghost inhabiting another person.” You say okay kind of begrudgingly. So the structure seemed informed by need and efficiency.

    The book says [Lincoln in the Bardo],”I really need this sci-fi device of a ghost inhabiting another person.” You say okay kind of begrudgingly. So the structure seemed informed by need and efficiency.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - As a writer I’m essentially just trying to impersonate a first-time reader, who picks up the story and has to decide, at every point, whether to keep going.

    As a writer I’m essentially just trying to impersonate a first-time reader, who picks up the story and has to decide, at every point, whether to keep going.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - I am always considering the reader. Although this is admittedly kind of odd: Which reader? On what day? In what mood? For me, that “reader” is actually just me, if I had never read the story before. Download This Image

    I am always considering the reader. Although this is admittedly kind of odd: Which reader? On what day? In what mood? For me, that “reader” is actually just me, if I had never read the story before.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - A culture’s ability to understand the world and itself is critical to its survival. But today we are led into the arena of public debate by seers whose main gift is their ability to compel people to continue to watch them.

    A culture’s ability to understand the world and itself is critical to its survival. But today we are led into the arena of public debate by seers whose main gift is their ability to compel people to continue to watch them.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences – where things turn out better than you thought they would – ought to be in there somewhere, too.

    If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences – where things turn out better than you thought they would – ought to be in there somewhere, too.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS
  • Share on Facebook Tweet this! Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Share on Telegram George Saunders Quote - Maybe you could even think 100,000 people are inside each human being. And you drop a novel on that person, and a certain number of those sub-people come alive or get reenergized for some finite time. Download This Image

    Maybe you could even think 100,000 people are inside each human being. And you drop a novel on that person, and a certain number of those sub-people come alive or get reenergized for some finite time.

    GEORGE SAUNDERS