For decades, George Saunders was known for his short stories. In 2013, in a Time Magazine 100 most influential people listing, he was described as “the best short-story writer in English”.
In 2017, he released his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, a reimagining of President Abraham Lincoln’s grief in the aftermath of his son Willie’s death. It’s a genre-defying piece of literature, narrated by no less than 166 ghosts.
The bardo is a concept borrowed from Saunders’ adopted faith, Buddhism—an “intermediate state” between death and reincarnation.
In his latest novel, Vigil, Saunders returns to the in-between – this time through a dying oil barron, grappling with his morality at the 11th hour in a burning world.
Tanjil Rashid sat down with George Saunders to discuss faith: in his writing, as a means of optimism, and as a political weapon in today’s world.
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