A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
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A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
the highest aspiration of art is to move the audience and that if the audience is moved, technical deficiencies are immediately forgiven.
George Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
(All coherent intellectual work begins with a genuine reaction.)
George Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
So, her mind returns easily and naturally to the school, and we might now recall that this is just what it did after Semyon’s assassination anecdote, earlier. She’s twice now retreated from the world to thoughts of the school (and we’re that much more sensitized to future occurrences). Why does she do this? What does this tell us about her that we
... See moreGeorge Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
Story: “Once upon a time there was a woman who became whatever she loved.” Chekhov: “Really? How about we test that supposition? Hmm. How to do that? Oh, I know: kill off her first love and present her with a second.” So, “good writerly habit” might consist of continually revising toward specificity, so that specificity can appear and then produce
... See moreGeorge Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
What does an artist do, mostly? She tweaks that which she’s already done.
George Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
But it’s the hardest thing to learn. It doesn’t come naturally, not to most of us. But that’s really all a story is: a series of things that happen in sequence, in which we can discern a pattern of causality.
George Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
Whatever ideas her husband had, she adopted as her own.
George Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
all art begins in that instant of intuitive preference.
George Saunders • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
- Look away from the page and summarize for me what you know so far.