An edition of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (2021)

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

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  • 5.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 59 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
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Last edited by ImportBot
July 27, 2023 | History
An edition of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (2021)

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

  • 5.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 59 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 2 Have read

For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, 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.

In 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.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is 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.

Publish Date
Publisher
Random House
Language
English
Pages
448

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Swim in a Pond in the Rain
2022, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
in English
Cover of: Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
2022, Random House Publishing Group
in English
Cover of: Bei Regen in einem Teich schwimmen
Bei Regen in einem Teich schwimmen: Von den russischen Meistern lesen, schreiben und leben lernen
14. Juni 2022, Luchterhand
Hardcover in German
Cover of: Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Swim in a Pond in the Rain
2021, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
in English
Cover of: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Cover of: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
Jan 12, 2021, Random House
Hardcover in English
Cover of: Swim in a Pond in the Rain

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Book Details


First Sentence

"For the last twenty years, at Syracuse University, I've been teaching a class in the ninteteenth-century Russian short story in translation."

Edition Notes

Source title: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

Classifications

Library of Congress
PG3097.S28 2021, PG3097 .S28 2021, PG3097.S28 S95 2021

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
xii, 418p
Number of pages
448
Weight
744 grams

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL28719190M
Internet Archive
swiminpondinrain0000saun
ISBN 10
1984856022
ISBN 13
9781984856029
LCCN
2020031046, 2020031045
OCLC/WorldCat
1162206568, 1184123090

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
July 27, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 15, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 7, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
September 30, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 13, 2020 Created by ImportBot Imported from amazon.com record