A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
By George Saunders
Review by Renata
Riffing off a course he’s taught for 20 years on the 19th Century Russian short story in translation, George Saunders proves as gifted a teacher as he is a writer. He presents selected works by Chekov, Tolstoy, Gogol and Turgenev, breaking the stories down moment by moment to investigate how these very different writers achieve the alchemy that turns words into gold. His forensically curious examination is like a funny, incisive conversation with a bookish friend. You don’t have to be a writer to enjoy this master class, but if you are, Saunders’ insights will delight and inspire.
