This book is billed as a guide for writers AND as a master class in the classic Russian short story--and it's wonderful on both fronts. If masters like Chekhov, Tolstoy and their peers have baffled you, Saunders is an able guide to why they matter--and how learning what they do well can make your own writing better. I didn't want this book to end, and I want Saunders to be my writing teacher.Publisher description:
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. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Saunders approaches each of these 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 as much a craft as it is a quality of openness and a willingness to see the world through new eyes. Funny, frank, and rigorous, this book ultimately shows how great fiction can change a person's life and become a benchmark of one's moral and ethical beliefs.