#lunchtime read

I’ve read Lincoln in the Baro & this interview makes me excited to read “Thursday” —another George Saunders story.

Your story “Thursday” involves a kind of (unwanted) mind meld between two strangers, in which one man experiences the memories of the other (who has died). The two men have very different personalities and histories. I’m guessing that the challenge of writing the story was also the pleasure of writing it: finding a credible way to blend the two voices while keeping them distinct. How did you do it?

GS: “Yes, you’re right about that; that aspect was both challenging and enjoyable….

But, if I’m thinking more as a critic, the benefit of this move might be that, on some level, the juxtaposition of those minds reminds us of a bigger truth; namely, that “a human community” is really just a bunch of highly subjective thought-streams, generated by clumps of flesh inside the heads of a group of bodies, bodies that are blundering around, each convinced that his or her thought-stream is the one and only authoritative, objective thought-stream.” George Saunders on the Nature of Mind https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/george-saunders-06-12-23