A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. In recent decades, too many academic literary critics have used classic works of literature as mere springboards for social or political theories. By George Saunders. Chekhov’s stories and plays often turn on a desired event that could have but did not happen—an expected marriage proposal never made, a neglected opportunity for kindness, a hoped-for meeting that could have eased unbearable loneliness. Random House: 432 pages, $28. Get the latest news and notes from our community Book Club. That’s it. (Indeed, it evokes his book “Congratulations, by the Way,” a graduation speech — another prescriptive genre that’s all but impossible to get right.) “Like Yashka, the writer has to risk a cracking voice and surrender to his actual power, his doubts notwithstanding,” Saunders advises. To understand short stories, we do not need some all-encompassing theory, he explains, but “moment-to-moment responsiveness.” To show why a given event or description is meaningful, Mr. Saunders sometimes rewrites a passage without it. . Review: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. His trick, pace Whitehead, is not to be so pedagogical about it. So even if “Swim” fails you, you have a solid anthology of engrossing, gloomy and peculiar classic fiction. Rather, he continues to act as he always has, but in circumstances that make formerly selfish behavior generous. (MFA programs advertise their famous faculty, as if you might acquire brilliance by osmosis, but read any interview with a debut novelist fresh from the workshop and the main virtue is clear: Time to write.) And those Russians could write! A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class by George Saunders review The stories of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Gogol and … (“When we see a word, we must ask ourselves foremost, ‘What does it mean?’”) In an essay, he mocked the platitudes that infest most lists of writing rules. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders review — life lessons from the Russian greats Richard Godwin enjoys learning about literature and … Because the task is impossible, craft books tend to read like invitations to a kind of shared suffering. It’s a … George Saunders deems his delightful readings of seven stories by Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev and Tolstoy non-academic, and they are all the better for that. He guides us through each story to show what such attention can reveal. Videos you watch may be added to the TV's watch history and influence TV recommendations. About a decade back, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead had a nice sideline poking fun at people who make pronouncements about good writing. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that a major influence on her …. Athitakis is a writer in Phoenix and author of “The New Midwest.”, How teachers in L.A. and beyond turned away from Dr. Seuss. About A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. When do you get to make messes and when is it best to avoid them? Have you ever wondered what makes a story great? “That self-interruption is a beautiful thing,” Mr. Saunders shrewdly observes. To be certain that the reading experience is fresh when we consider his analyses, Mr. Saunders includes each story in full in an adequate, if not always the best, translation. . In 2018, I had the pleasure of attending a reading by George Saunders. For instance, he admires Turgenev’s “The Singers,” despite its flaws: needless exposition, clunky structure, an obvious turn. “That’s all poetry is, really: something odd, coming out,” he writes. “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain,” billed as a master class in how to read and write, is effectively two books in one: seven classic Russian short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol paired with funny, lively, profound essays by Saunders explaining their art, craft and enduring appeal. At his best, Mr. Saunders teases out easily overlooked moments of authorial genius. He begins by giving us Chekhov’s “In the Cart” one page at a time, with his own commentaries following each page, so we can attend to how our feelings develop as we read—to the story not just as a remembered whole but as an unfolding event. But he bites off bigger chunks than an academic, likelier to scrutinize paragraphs than lines, pulling out slabs of text to underscore a thought about how the Russians achieved their emotional effects. When they do turn their attention to a work, they often treat it as a “text,” that is, as words on the page through which not the author but “language” speaks. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain book. Californians aren’t leaving the state en masse — but they are leaving San Francisco, study says. View on startribune.com. Recalling his own early stumbles, he describes how his overly careful and mannered apprentice work eventually gave way to the goofball riffs that informed his first story collection, 1996’s “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline.” It’s a magical moment — George Saunders became George Saunders! His highly anticipated first book, ‘Afterparties,’ will be out in August. Read more. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for twenty years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. How could writing well be any easier? . Each commercial in the Disney+ series has revealed key information about what’s really going on. George Saunders is the author of nine books, including Lincoln in the Bardo, winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize and the Premio Rezzori prize. Sign up for the Los Angeles Times Book Club. Now I’d He’s not for her, she knows it . The hero of “Master and Man” does not first understand the divine truth and then act on it. 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, ... —Kirkus Reviews “[A] true gift to writers and serious readers . . By: George Saunders. With the same energy, the same words to himself, as he used in striking business deals, he now gives his life to save his freezing servant when they are both caught in a terrible snowstorm. Read 324 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. (Yashka, the “best” singer in the story’s central competition, isn’t the most technically accomplished.) How an admiral and a war vet-turned-novelist teamed up on a smart technothriller, Admiral John Stavridis once commanded NATO. What all those fake commercials in ‘WandaVision’ are really telling us. In a speech, he caricatured the plummy, officious critic delivering high-toned statements of the obvious. On such points, Saunders may be more honest than most writing teachers, but it’s where “Swim” is at its haziest. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. £16.99. (“In many classic short stories, the real action occurs in the silences. Jeff Grosso: The life and death of skateboarding’s soul. ‘Yakov Turok Is Singing’ (1908) by B. Kustodiev. Why are many Americans committed to preserving words and images associated with forces bent on preventing fellow citizens from living freely and equally? The rhythmically repeated romantic failures in Chekhov’s “The Darling” let Saunders riff on structure; the tragic ironies of Tolstoy’s “Master and Man” highlight plot and character; Gogol’s “The Nose” is a clinic on how the absurd illuminates reality. The awards recognize outstanding literary achievements in 12 categories, including the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, with winners to be announced April 16. Book publisher. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, is a distillation of what he tries to impart to his students. “It says: the mind can be two places at once. About A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Secrets of a Covid-19 Vaccine-Appointment Master: Advice for Any State, Senate Irons Out Details for Latest Covid-19 Package, News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. ‘Life After Death’ revisits the story of Winter Santiaga, the hustler in her 1999 smash hit ‘The Coldest Winter Ever.’ Sister Souljah on what took so long. In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. While most such guides offer only excerpts from the good writing you’re shooting for, Saunders includes the full text of seven short stories by four Russian authors: Turgenev, Chekhov, Tolstoy and Gogol. 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.
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