{"product_id":"a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain-in-which-four-russians-give-a-master-class-on-writing-reading-and-life-by-george-saunders","title":"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders","description":"\u003cp\u003eISBN : 9781984856029\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRandom House , 12 January 2021\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardcover , 432 pages \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eBESTSELLER • From the Booker Prize–winning author of\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eLincoln in the Bardo\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eand\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecomes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE PEN\/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Washington Post,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eNPR,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eTime, San Francisco Chronicle,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eEsquire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Rumpus, Electric Lit, Thrillist,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBookPage\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e• “[A] worship song to writers and readers.”—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the 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 a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"I H Pentz Booksellers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47197884154018,"sku":null,"price":300.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/4047\/3732\/files\/81cgD7mcWCL._SL1500.jpg?v=1777017477","url":"https:\/\/pentzbooks.co.za\/products\/a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain-in-which-four-russians-give-a-master-class-on-writing-reading-and-life-by-george-saunders","provider":"I H Pentz Booksellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}