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1.51k reviews for:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders
4.52 AVERAGE
1.51k reviews for:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders
4.52 AVERAGE
Fabulous! Like taking a master class in short story writing (and reading). Didn’t want it to end!
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
This book slapped. I really enjoyed being challenged to read closely, but even though I was paying attention I still missed a lot, and many of his added insights allowed me to really appreciate these works more than I would have had I read them on my own (especially The Singers). Pretty cool look into what writing looks like on a day-to-day. Or at least his process of writing. I really liked this book and will definitely check out more Saunders (and Gogol)
Loved this. Erudite and informative I have nothing to say except this list of things I learned and found invaluable:
* A story is an organic whole, and when we say a story is good, we're saying that it responds alertly to itself. This holds true in both directions; a brief description of a road tells us how to read the present moment but also all the past moments in the story and all those still to come.
* Einstein once said: "No worthy problem is ever solved in the plane of its original conception." ** Apparently this is a misquote of what Einstein actually said, which was "Let the people know that a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels." But years ago a student relayed this to me in the form above and, no offense to Einstein, I thought my student's version was brilliant and have been using it ever since.** The story has just written itself out of the plane of its original concep-tion, by removing Hanov as a possible antidote for Marya's loneliness. What now? We might think of a story as a system for the transfer of energy. Energy, hopefully, gets made in the early pages and the trick, in the later pages, is to use that energy. Marya was created unhappy and lonely and has become more specifically unhappy and lonely with every passing page. That is the energy the story has made, and must use.
* The movie provider and all around mensch Stuart Cornfield once told me that in a good screen play, every structural unit needs to do two things: 1) be entertaining in its own right, and 2 advance the story in a non-trivial way. We will henceforth refer to this as "the Cornfeld Principle." In a mediocre story, nothing much will happen inside the teahouse. The teahouse is there to allow the writer to supply local color, to tell us what such a place is like. Or something might happen in there, but it won't mean much. Some plates will fall and get broken, a ray of sunlight will come randomly through the window to no purpose, just because rays of sunlight do that in the real world, a dog will run in and run out, because the writer recently saw a real dog do that in a real teahouse. All of this may be "entertaining in its own right" (lively, funny, described in vivid language, etc.) but is not "advancing the story in a non-trivial way." When a story is "advanced in a non-trivial way," we get the local color and something else. The characters go into the scene in one state and leave in another. The story becomes a more particular version of itself: it refines the question it’s been asking all along.
* But the true beauty of a story is not in its apparent conclusion but in the alteration in the mind of the reader that has occurred along the way. Chekhov once said, "Art doesn't have to solve problems, it only has to formulate them correctly." "Formulate them correctly" might be taken to mean: "make us feel the problem fully, without denying any part of it.”
* Flannery O’Conor said ‘the writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.’
* A story is an organic whole, and when we say a story is good, we're saying that it responds alertly to itself. This holds true in both directions; a brief description of a road tells us how to read the present moment but also all the past moments in the story and all those still to come.
* Einstein once said: "No worthy problem is ever solved in the plane of its original conception." ** Apparently this is a misquote of what Einstein actually said, which was "Let the people know that a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels." But years ago a student relayed this to me in the form above and, no offense to Einstein, I thought my student's version was brilliant and have been using it ever since.** The story has just written itself out of the plane of its original concep-tion, by removing Hanov as a possible antidote for Marya's loneliness. What now? We might think of a story as a system for the transfer of energy. Energy, hopefully, gets made in the early pages and the trick, in the later pages, is to use that energy. Marya was created unhappy and lonely and has become more specifically unhappy and lonely with every passing page. That is the energy the story has made, and must use.
* The movie provider and all around mensch Stuart Cornfield once told me that in a good screen play, every structural unit needs to do two things: 1) be entertaining in its own right, and 2 advance the story in a non-trivial way. We will henceforth refer to this as "the Cornfeld Principle." In a mediocre story, nothing much will happen inside the teahouse. The teahouse is there to allow the writer to supply local color, to tell us what such a place is like. Or something might happen in there, but it won't mean much. Some plates will fall and get broken, a ray of sunlight will come randomly through the window to no purpose, just because rays of sunlight do that in the real world, a dog will run in and run out, because the writer recently saw a real dog do that in a real teahouse. All of this may be "entertaining in its own right" (lively, funny, described in vivid language, etc.) but is not "advancing the story in a non-trivial way." When a story is "advanced in a non-trivial way," we get the local color and something else. The characters go into the scene in one state and leave in another. The story becomes a more particular version of itself: it refines the question it’s been asking all along.
* But the true beauty of a story is not in its apparent conclusion but in the alteration in the mind of the reader that has occurred along the way. Chekhov once said, "Art doesn't have to solve problems, it only has to formulate them correctly." "Formulate them correctly" might be taken to mean: "make us feel the problem fully, without denying any part of it.”
* Flannery O’Conor said ‘the writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.’
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This is, in theory, the coolest book to ever exist. The greatest living writer of short fiction teaching you how to write a good story? Yea, that rocks. But there is no easily replicable formula to writing a great story, the questions that literature aims to explore don't actually answer them. Saunders knows this and he isn't out to sell us snake oil. The bottom line, Saunders tells us, is that, to create a great piece of fiction, you need to WORK.
Through the stories included in this book, Saunders gives us tips and helps us identify what is great about a great story. But, as Saunders states himself, knowing what makes a story great isn't knowing how to make a story great. One must work and work and work. The most important part of the writing process is starting, getting something out there, and then letting our interior literary voices make decisions to refine our initial process. According to him, a story is made up of an infinite number of small directional choices that we must make.
I haven't really written any fiction ever, so I have no idea what problems I might face or how the tools provided to me through this book may help me to hone in that craft. But, even without experience or intention to write, I still found this to be a worthwhile read. I love anything Saunders writes and getting nuggets of historical context to these stories as well as notes on the translations was really neat. I enjoyed it.
Through the stories included in this book, Saunders gives us tips and helps us identify what is great about a great story. But, as Saunders states himself, knowing what makes a story great isn't knowing how to make a story great. One must work and work and work. The most important part of the writing process is starting, getting something out there, and then letting our interior literary voices make decisions to refine our initial process. According to him, a story is made up of an infinite number of small directional choices that we must make.
I haven't really written any fiction ever, so I have no idea what problems I might face or how the tools provided to me through this book may help me to hone in that craft. But, even without experience or intention to write, I still found this to be a worthwhile read. I love anything Saunders writes and getting nuggets of historical context to these stories as well as notes on the translations was really neat. I enjoyed it.
One of the most practically helpful books on writing I've ever read.
Where else can you read stories by masters of Russian literature and learn about life, love, spiritually and empathy. Wonderful book.
I am going to copy a friend's take on this book. I started it then put it aside and didn't finish. Another reviewer (you know who you are ;) ) wrote, "Suffice to say, I'm interested in Chekhov's stories, but not the detailed examination of it." DITTO!