Home › Books › A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russi…
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
by
64/99
Critics' Rating Index
97/99
Readers' Rating Index
95/99
Scholars' Citation Index
99/99
Volume of Reviews
94/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, "We're going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn't fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?" He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.
Reviews
"Is the invasion of Iraq best understood as a 'literary failure,' as Saunders has written?"
"these are minor nits to pick in an otherwise overwhelmingly constructive book, in which Saunders offers us an indispensable list of laws for writers ..."
"Admirers of Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) and Saunders' equally imaginative short story collections will discover the full scope of his passion for and knowledge of literature in his deeply inquisitive, candid, funny, and philosophical analysis of seven stories, each included here, by his Russian mentors ..."
"He reads, as Vladimir Nabokov advised, with his back, alert to the shiver down the spine."
"And judging from what I've heard from writer friends who've experienced great authors giving these lectures, few would be able to fill 400 pages quite so easily as Saunders)."
"Saunders teases out easily overlooked moments of authorial genius ..."
"Saunders is an engaging guide, earnest almost to a fault at times, but the enthusiasm is clearly genuine and ultimately winning."
"Once we become accustomed to reading like he reads, we proceed through the stories with great joy, anticipating even further delights with his explications to follow."
"Suffused with a wry humour, the essays are aimed at anyone interested in how fiction works ..."
"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain might catch readers looking for traditional literary criticism by surprise."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!