I've been reading George Saunders' collection of short stories called In Persuasion Nation. Wow. Let me just say how grateful I am that a former student of mine introduced me to Saunders by recommending the lead story in this collection, "I Can Speak!" I don't think I've ever read anything quite as original (as far as short stories go) as these stories. Please read them for yourself.
Why? Because it is nearly impossible to simply describe these stories. They combine the critique of Don DeLillo with the moral heart of Andre Dubus. There is one story called "brad carrigan, american" that moves seamlessly from tv simulacra to American life, and ends up critiquing both for their utter soulessness. When a tv show begins to develop a real conscience, it has to be eliminated. Another moving story, "Jon" is set sometime in some possible future, in which certain unwanted children are made into conduits for advertisements; the brilliance of the story is that the children have no language for anything other than that language and those images that have been supplied to them by commericials. The result is a hilarious but utterly moving look at how dehumanizing that can be. I cannot describe these stories. Buy them, read them, enjoy.
1 comment:
I too love these stories and have assigned some of them over the years. Can you tell me why my students responded so dismissively to Saunders last semester in Mod and Beyond? I couldn't figure it out. They had a similar response to Eggers and Foster-Wallace.
dw
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