The article's understanding of Saunders as a pivotal teacher has aged well, with his migration to Substack, and it also lends another leg to your criticism of his followers. His stature also comes up for critique, since his persona "makes it all too easy to conflate his way with the way" that short stories ought to be practiced.
Here's a thought on one of Saunders' short stories that appeared in The New Yorker and that, at the time, I used in a class I was teaching: The story: "COMMCOMM"
I argue that this story is a “concept-driven” story; not a character-driven story. In other words, it hinges on an idea. T. Coraghessan Boyle delves into this territory. Have you read “Dogology”? I think that story is a highly successful concept-driven story. Another example of such a story is “The School” by Frederick Bartheleme” (a very good story, indeed, if you can get your hands on it. T.C. Boyle says about Frederick Bartheleme’s story “The School,” “As in any concept-driven story, the author is in danger of painting himself into a corner.”
Now, the q. for you is, Have you read Saunders' novel Lincoln in the Bardo? I do think something real and quality is going on there. I can say more at some point if you're interested.
Susan Neiman is a powerful thinker and excellent writer. Her 'Evil in Modern Thought' traces the rise of, well, the concept of evil from pre-enlightenment to modernity.
Sam, I admire this piece and of course thank you for your regard for my work. But to this
"My belief is that a famous writer isn’t just responsible for themselves; they’re responsible for their imitators as well."
...I say NOOOOO! How could George Saunders possibly be responsible for people who imitate him? There are people who have (to put it more nicely) been heavily influenced by me and some of them I look at and think WTF??? How did this shit happen off of me? It sounds like you actually like Saunders, why go after him because of these cursed imitators? Why not go after them?
Also I didn't exactly take Saunders on with my memory of our conversation back in 2001, not in the sense of picking a quarrel. I actually let him know I was going to post that and we had an email exchange about it; he was surprised he'd said it, didn't remember but did admit eventually that given the context, it sounded like something he could say in reaction to perceived artiness on my part. But this is a guy who loves Chekhov, so....I don't think he's actually opposed to that value of looking at the world and trying to write about it as it appears.
But I'm not picking a quarrel with you either, I do know what you mean about lack of pulse/hyper cuteness in contemporary writing generally. I love your passion on the subject, it is rare these days. And I was interested to read about Neiman, hadn't heard of her. So overall, thanks!
Curious look at Saunders, but you named it: the Wonka-style absurdism meant to comment by exaggeration, rather than true observation.
Here's a deep-cut profile of Saunders as "the prince of the MFA age" from the Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/the-short-story-priesthood-paoletta
The article's understanding of Saunders as a pivotal teacher has aged well, with his migration to Substack, and it also lends another leg to your criticism of his followers. His stature also comes up for critique, since his persona "makes it all too easy to conflate his way with the way" that short stories ought to be practiced.
Here's a thought on one of Saunders' short stories that appeared in The New Yorker and that, at the time, I used in a class I was teaching: The story: "COMMCOMM"
I argue that this story is a “concept-driven” story; not a character-driven story. In other words, it hinges on an idea. T. Coraghessan Boyle delves into this territory. Have you read “Dogology”? I think that story is a highly successful concept-driven story. Another example of such a story is “The School” by Frederick Bartheleme” (a very good story, indeed, if you can get your hands on it. T.C. Boyle says about Frederick Bartheleme’s story “The School,” “As in any concept-driven story, the author is in danger of painting himself into a corner.”
Now, the q. for you is, Have you read Saunders' novel Lincoln in the Bardo? I do think something real and quality is going on there. I can say more at some point if you're interested.
Good piece.
Susan Neiman is a powerful thinker and excellent writer. Her 'Evil in Modern Thought' traces the rise of, well, the concept of evil from pre-enlightenment to modernity.
Sam, I admire this piece and of course thank you for your regard for my work. But to this
"My belief is that a famous writer isn’t just responsible for themselves; they’re responsible for their imitators as well."
...I say NOOOOO! How could George Saunders possibly be responsible for people who imitate him? There are people who have (to put it more nicely) been heavily influenced by me and some of them I look at and think WTF??? How did this shit happen off of me? It sounds like you actually like Saunders, why go after him because of these cursed imitators? Why not go after them?
Also I didn't exactly take Saunders on with my memory of our conversation back in 2001, not in the sense of picking a quarrel. I actually let him know I was going to post that and we had an email exchange about it; he was surprised he'd said it, didn't remember but did admit eventually that given the context, it sounded like something he could say in reaction to perceived artiness on my part. But this is a guy who loves Chekhov, so....I don't think he's actually opposed to that value of looking at the world and trying to write about it as it appears.
But I'm not picking a quarrel with you either, I do know what you mean about lack of pulse/hyper cuteness in contemporary writing generally. I love your passion on the subject, it is rare these days. And I was interested to read about Neiman, hadn't heard of her. So overall, thanks!