New Releases by George Saunders

An electric novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling, Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he is ferried from this world into the next Not for the first time, Jill “Doll” Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls, right down to her favorite black pumps. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion. She has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn’t like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn’t it? Vigil transports us, careening, through the wild final evening of a complicated man. Visitors begin to arrive (worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead), clamoring for a reckoning. Birds swarm the dying man’s room; a black calf grazes on the love seat; a man from a distant, drought-ravaged village materializes; two oil-business cronies from decades past show up with chilling plans for Boone’s postdeath future. With the wisdom, playfulness, and explosive imagination we’ve come to expect, George Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time—the menace of corporate greed, the toll of capitalism, the environmental perils of progress—and, in the process, spins a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the thorny question of absolution.

Los grandes relatos del "mejor cuentista actual en lengua inglesa" (Time), por primera vez reunidos en una colección imprescindible. «Somos afortunados por tenerle.» Jonathan Franzen «Saunders es completamente único. No hay nadie mejor ni tan necesario.» Dave Eggers «Un escritor moralmente apasionado.» Zadie smith Con relatos de sus colecciones más icónicas, de Guerracivilandia en ruinas a Pastoralia o El día de la liberación, la edición en tapa dura de los Cuentos escogidos de George Saunders es tanto un regalo estupendo para sus admiradores como la mejor puerta de entrada a su obra para aquellos que aún no hayan disfrutado de sus textos. En esta antología magistral asoman todas las constantes que han hecho célebre al autor: su humor, ingenio y subversión, pero también su mirada ácida y certera sobre la ética, la justicia y una sociedad decadente. Uno de los máximos exponentes de la literatura norteamericana de las últimas décadas y considerado como "el mejor cuentista actual en lengua inglesa" ( Time), Saunders «se ha revelado como nada menos que el Gogol estadounidense: divertido, lleno de matices y escribiendo siempre con un corazón moral» (Kirkus Reviews) y es precisamente «ese equilibrio entre un oficio innovador y una compasión profunda, además de una voz vibrante y vertiginosa, lo que lo eleva por encima de otros maestros del género» (The Boston Globe).

Une fable tendre, amusante, poignante et teintée d’humour noir sur la cupidité humaine et la nature, de la plume de George Saunders (lauréat du Man Booker Prize).

Traducere de Radu Șorop Cu Ziua eliberării, finalist la Ray Bradbury Prize 2022, tradus în peste 20 de țări, George Saunders revine magistral la forma literară care l-a consacrat, oferind un volum de povestiri incisive și tulburătoare, care explorează natura umană în fața opresiunii, tehnologiei și alienării. Povestirile lui Saunders, alcătuind un univers neașteptat, pătrund în cutele adânci ale subconștientului și scot la iveală monștri, dar și victime. Terifiantul se amestecă cu satira, grotescul cu sensibilul, realul pipernicit cu fantasticul trăit la cotele maxime ale disperării. Există însă mereu o fibră de caldă umanitate care răzbate dincolo de orice gest opresiv – o candoare care îți ajunge la inimă și te îndeamnă la reflecție. „Un Gogol american: amuzant, incisiv, plin de nuanțe și mereu ghidat de o conștiință morală. Ziua eliberării nu face decât să confirme această perspectivă. Cele nouă povestiri de aici sunt inteligente și pline de umor, speculative, dar în același timp profund umane, narațiuni despre iubire, pierdere, dar și despre nevoia esențială de a crea legături.“ — Kirkus Reviews „Rareori în istoria literaturii un autor de proză scurtă a fost mai premiat și s-a bucurat, încă din timpul vieții sale, de o recunoaștere totală așa cum se întâmplă de un deceniu încoace cu George Saunders. Cu acest volum de proză scurtă, Saunders uimește, o dată în plus, prin felul în care găsește limbaje și forme noi pentru povestirile sale de o originalitate frapantă: halucinații hipercapitaliste, distopii spirituale, experimente elegiace. Un scriitor complet (deopotrivă romancier și eseist strălucit), a cărui inventivitate este egalată doar de profunzimea povestirilor sale.“ — MARIUS CHIVU

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “One of our most inventive purveyors of the form returns with pitch-perfect, genre-bending stories that stare into the abyss of our national character. . . . An exquisite work from a writer whose reach is galactic.”—Oprah Daily Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with his first collection of short stories since the New York Times bestseller Tenth of December. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, NPR, Time, USA Today, The Guardian, Esquire, Newsweek, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal The “best short-story writer in English” (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose—wickedly funny, unsentimental, and exquisitely tuned—Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: Here is a collection of prismatic, resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality. “Love Letter” is a tender missive from grandfather to grandson, in the midst of a dystopian political situation in the (not too distant, all too believable) future, that reminds us of our obligations to our ideals, ourselves, and one another. “Ghoul” is set in a Hell-themed section of an underground amusement park in Colorado and follows the exploits of a lonely, morally complex character named Brian, who comes to question everything he takes for granted about his reality. In “Mother’s Day,” two women who loved the same man come to an existential reckoning in the middle of a hailstorm. In “Elliott Spencer,” our eighty-nine-year-old protagonist finds himself brainwashed, his memory “scraped”—a victim of a scheme in which poor, vulnerable people are reprogrammed and deployed as political protesters. And “My House”—in a mere seven pages—comes to terms with the haunting nature of unfulfilled dreams and the inevitability of decay. Together, these nine subversive, profound, and essential stories coalesce into a case for viewing the world with the same generosity and clear-eyed attention Saunders does, even in the most absurd of circumstances.

Depois do premiado Lincoln no limbo, o mestre do conto contemporâneo está de volta com uma nova coleção de fantasias sombrias e narrativas cheias de humor e absurdo. Em Dia da libertação, George Saunders volta a empregar seu talento elástico para criar composições ficcionais incomuns. São nove textos de estilo e arranjo variados, que tratam de quem somos nós nesse mundo incompreensível em que vivemos. Tal os personagens deste livro, somos aqueles incapazes de perceber as construções sociais e familiares que nos obrigam a cumprir tarefas que nunca se completam, vivendo numa espécie de atuação permanente para uma suposta audiência que nunca chega. Somos também aqueles que, ao tentar fazer o que é certo, descobrem que a cada ação embrenha-se mais e mais numa cadeia de efeitos que só nos afasta da certeza e da correção. Vivemos num mundo onde as relações estão contaminadas pelo uso inescrupuloso e automatizado da linguagem, em que todos os dias se viola "mais uma norma de decoro" a ponto de não restar "nenhuma forma de indignação". Somos trabalhadores lobotomizados para a satisfação de uma "companhia", escravizados num parque de diversões, ou então temos nossas memórias apagadas e nos tornamos zumbis extremistas. Mas somos também mães e pais de família protetores, com histórias de trabalho, de traição, ganância e ciúmes. Ao percorrermos estes contos, Saunders nos faz sentir um prazer estranho, como o de "um fantoche que, apanhado no chão, desfruta das mãos que repentinamente o manipulam". Um livro desconcertante e libertador. "Num futuro próximo, um avô explica como os americanos perderam suas liberdades por meio de pequenas concessões a um governo autoritário. Pessoas vulneráveis sofrem lavagem cerebral e são reprogramadas como manifestantes políticos. Pobres são escravizados para entreter os ricos e forçados a recriar cenas da história americana. Nestes relatos poderosos e perspicazes, George Saunders evoca uma nação em declínio moral e espiritual, onde atos de bondade cintilam como luzes na escuridão." — Esquire

Zorro 8 siempre ha sido el soñador de la manada, al que el resto de compañeros miran con desdén y por el que ponen los ojos en blanco. Hasta que un día consigue desarrollar una habilidad única: aprende a hablar «Umano» escuchando las historias que una madre cuenta a sus hijos antes de ir a dormir. El poder del lenguaje alimentará su curiosidad hacia ellos, incluso después de que la construcción de un «Centro Comerzial» cerca de la madriguera ponga en peligro la supervivencia de la manada y Zorro 8 se embarque en un peligroso viaje para salvar a los suyos. Escrita con mucha ternura, humor y una profunda convicción ética, y acompañada de las preciosas ilustraciones de Chelsea Cardinal, Zorro 8 es una carta de amor a los hombres y una llamada de atención a cuidar del medioambiente.

The American Civil Liberties Union partners with award-winning authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman in this “forceful, beautifully written” (Associated Press) collection that brings together many of our greatest living writers, each contributing an original piece inspired by a historic ACLU case. On January 19, 1920, a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman, founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A century after its creation, the ACLU remains the nation’s premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays “full of struggle, emotion, fear, resilience, hope, and triumph” (Los Angeles Review of Books) about landmark cases in the organization’s one-hundred-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in—Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona—need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now. Familiar or little-known, each case springs to vivid life in the hands of the acclaimed writers who dive into the history, narrate their personal experiences, and debate the questions at the heart of each issue. Hector Tobar introduces us to Ernesto Miranda, the felon whose wrongful conviction inspired the now-iconic Miranda rights—which the police would later read to the man suspected of killing him. Yaa Gyasi confronts the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the ACLU submitted a friend of- the-court brief questioning why a nation that has sent men to the moon still has public schools so unequal that they may as well be on different planets. True to the ACLU’s spirit of principled dissent, Scott Turow offers a blistering critique of the ACLU’s stance on campaign finance. These powerful stories, along with essays from Neil Gaiman, Meg Wolitzer, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and many more, remind us that the issues the ACLU has engaged over the past one hundred years remain as vital as ever today, and that we can never take our liberties for granted. Chabon and Waldman are donating their advance to the ACLU and the contributors are forgoing payment.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today. LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Time, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Town & Country, The Rumpus, Electric Lit, Thrillist, BookPage • “[A] worship song to writers and readers.”—Oprah Daily 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.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo, a darkly comic short story about the unintended consequences unleashed by our quest to tame the natural world—featuring gorgeous black-and-white illustrations by Chelsea Cardinal. Fox 8 has always been known as the daydreamer in his pack, the one his fellow foxes regard with a knowing snort and a roll of the eyes. That is, until he develops a unique skill: He teaches himself to speak “Yuman” by hiding in the bushes outside a house and listening to children’s bedtime stories. The power of language fuels his abundant curiosity about people—even after “danjer” arrives in the form of a new shopping mall that cuts off his food supply, sending Fox 8 on a harrowing quest to help save his pack. Told with his distinctive blend of humor and pathos, Fox 8 showcases the extraordinary imaginative talents of George Saunders, whom The New York Times called “the writer for our time.”

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE The “devastatingly moving” (People) first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • One of Paste’s Best Novels of the Decade Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, USA Today, and Maureen Corrigan, NPR • One of Time’s Ten Best Novels of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book • One of O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of the Year February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul. Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end? “A luminous feat of generosity and humanism.”—Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review “A masterpiece.”—Zadie Smith

Πώς ζούμε και πώς αγαπάμε, όταν ξέρουμε ότι όλα αυτά που μας νοιάζουν κάποια στιγμή θα πάψουν να υπάρχουν; Φεβρουάριος 1862. Ο Αμερικανικός Εμφύλιος μαίνεται, ενώ ο αγαπημένος εντεκάχρονος γιος του προέδρου Λίνκολν βρίσκεται βαριά άρρωστος και, παρά τις προβλέψεις για ανάρρωση, τελικά πεθαίνει. Στις 22 Φεβρουαρίου του 1862, δύο μέρες μετά τον θάνατό του, ο Γουίλι Λίνκολν κηδεύτηκε σε μαρμάρινη κρύπτη στο κοιμητήριο της Τζόρτζταουν. Εκείνο το βράδυ, ο Αβραάμ Λίνκολν φθάνει μόνος στο νεκροταφείο, θέλοντας να περάσει χρόνο με το άψυχο σώμα του γιου του. Κατά τη διάρκεια της νύχτας, τα φαντάσματα αυτών που έφυγαν πρόσφατα από τη ζωή και αυτών που έχουν πεθάνει, από καιρό, συνυπάρχουν· μια μνημειώδης μάχη πραγματοποιείται για την ψυχή του μικρού Γουίλι. Με έναυσμα αυτό το ιστορικό γεγονός, o George Saunders, αφηγείται μια αξέχαστη καλειδοσκοπική ιστορία για την οικογενειακή αγάπη, την απώλεια, αλλά και τις δυνάμεις του καλού και του κακού.

This is an astonishing, absolutely absorbing account of the accomplishments of those picked men from the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force, who work with U.S. Rangers and others of the United Nations in what is known officially as Combined Operations—or, more popularly, the Commandos. So far as possible, without giving aid to the enemy, it is the complete story of the Commandos since the very beginning of their activities, commencing with the experimental attacks on Norwegian islands, and proceeding with more ambitious attempts on the Continent. In quick succession follow highly dramatic accounts of the assault on southern Italy, the evacuation of Crete, the defeat of the French in Syria, the daring penetration of the enemy''s line in Libya—culminating in the suspenseful stalking of Rommel''s headquarters—the assault on St. Nazaire, the capture of Madagascar, the Dieppe raid, the invasion of North Africa. The book is utterly without heroics, and yet is all heroism. The reader marvels at the terrible efficiency, the terrible simplicity, the terrible courage and the awesome nonchalance of the British Royal Navy and Army and R.A.F. men who participate in these raids. The author has the true narrator''s gift—a style which is direct, authentic, episodic in a high degree, and stirring from beginning to end. The inspiring scenes he describes keep recurring to the reader long after the book has been laid aside.

"I am not worried about the fighting. I know you''re fairly bloody-minded. But I want to speak of discipline during the battle." "You must get ashore, if you have to swim, and I hope some of you will return as you''ll be very useful for the next show." The words of a Commando officer to his men before they stormed the beaches of Sicily under heavy machine-gun fire sum up the swashbuckling, devil-may-care spirit of the toughest fighting men produced—the Commandos. For their raids and battles far behind enemy lines in France, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Burma the men in the Green Beret have become a legend. This book shows how this legend was forged.

From the bestselling author of Tenth of December comes a splendid new edition of his acclaimed collaboration with the illustrator behind The Stinky Cheese Man and James and the Giant Peach! Featuring fifty-two haunting and hilarious images, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a modern fable for people of all ages that touches on the power of kindness, generosity, compassion, and community. In the seaside village of Frip live three families: the Romos, the Ronsens, and a little girl named Capable and her father. The economy of Frip is based solely on goat’s milk, and this is a problem because the village is plagued by gappers: bright orange, many-eyed creatures the size of softballs that love to attach themselves to goats. When a gapper gets near a goat, it lets out a high-pitched shriek of joy that puts the goats off giving milk, which means that every few hours the children of Frip have to go outside, brush the gappers off their goats, and toss them into the sea. The gappers have always been everyone’s problem, until one day they get a little smarter, and instead of spreading out, they gang up: on Capable’s goats. Free at last of the tyranny of the gappers, will her neighbors rally to help her? Or will they turn their backs, forcing Capable to bear the misfortune alone? Featuring fifty-two haunting and hilarious illustrations by Lane Smith and a brilliant story by George Saunders that explores universal themes of community and kindness, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a rich and resonant story for those that have all and those that have not. Praise for The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip “In a perfect world, every child would own a copy of this profound, funny fable. . . . Every adult would own a copy too, and would marvel at how this smart, subversive little book is even deeper and more hilarious than any child could know.”—Entertainment Weekly “Saunders’s idiosyncratic voice makes an almost perfect accompaniment to children’s book illustrator Smith’s heightened characterizations and slightly surreal backdrops.”—Publishers Weekly “A riveting, funny, and sly new fairy tale.”—Miami Herald

Dopo il successo di Dieci dicembre, che ha fatto conoscere al grande pubblico la voce inconfondibile di George Saunders consacrandolo come uno dei nomi di punta della nuova scena letteraria americana, minimum fax riporta in libreria Bengodi, la sua prima raccolta di racconti, uscita nel 1996 e subito finalista al Pen/HemingwayAward. In sei racconti e un romanzo breve, corredati in questa nuova edizione da un ulteriore inedito e una preziosa postfazione, Saunders definisce i tratti salienti della sua poetica, inscenando il lato oscuro del sogno americano in un ipotetico futuro prossimo dove i vizi della società contemporanea vengono spinti all''eccesso con conseguenze grottesche, esilaranti e spesso spaventose. Una raccolta spietata e preveggente, permeata da uno humour feroce miscelato con quell''insieme di empatia e compassione nei confronti dell''uomo, delle sue debolezze e dei suoi difetti, che rende i racconti di Saunders una meravigliosa esperienza umana prima ancora che un imperdibile piacere letterario. Con una postfazione dell''autore e un racconto inedito.

Ο ρεαλισμός της σκληρής καθημερινότητας ανταλλάσσει χειραψίες με τη δυστοπική επιστημονική φαντασία, αλλά πάντα μες στο σκοτάδι λάμπει ένα μικρό φως, ένα κερί. Στις χαραμάδες εναποθέτει την τσαλακωμένη αισιοδοξία του ο Saunders, στα χορταριασμένα χάσματα, στα μεσοδιαστήματα όπου μπορεί να λάμψει η λεπίδα της ελπίδας. Τα διηγήματα στη Δεκάτη Δεκεμβρίου είναι ασπρόμαυρες φωτογραφίες, τυπωμένες σε αλουμίνιο, είναι μονοφωνικά ηχογραφήματα που δεν θέλουν τόσο να προειδοποιήσουν όσο να υπαινιχθούν ότι μείζον παραμένει η αγάπη, ότι δεν είναι ντεμοντέ και αναχρονιστική η τρυφερότητα. Μέσα στο σκότος υπάρχουν χαραμάδες φωτός, ένα μικρό κεράκι δωρίζει θάλπος, μια φράση κι ένα χαμόγελο μπορούν να αντιστρέψουν τα πράγματα.

Traduit de l''anglais (États-Unis) par Olivier Deparis Ami intime de David Foster Wallace et de Jonathan Franzen, adulé par une génération d''écrivains (Lorrie Moore, Junot Diaz, etc.) à qui il a enseigné la fiction à l''université de Syracuse, George Saunders est encore largement inconnu en France. Dix décembre devrait contribuer à corriger cette anomalie. Un homme-cobaye prisonnier d''un laboratoire, un lycéen rêveur, un manager, un employé d''un parc d''attractions et quelques femmes au bord de la crise de nerfs, tels sont les (anti-)héros de ce livre dans lequel l''absurde règne en maître. Car le monde est absurde, nous dit George Saunders. Pour lui, l''écrivain, tel le canari dans la mine célébré jadis par Kurt Vonnegut, est celui qui avertit ses semblables que le coup de grisou est imminent. C''est pourquoi il est plus que jamais urgent de le lire.

George Saunders è uno degli autori più amati e influenti della scena letteraria americana di oggi. La sua raccolta di racconti Dieci dicembre è stata uno dei casi letterari del 2013, sia negli Stati Uniti, dove ha scalato le classifiche ed è stata finalista al National Book Award, sia in Italia, dove sia La Repubblica che il Corriere della Sera l''hanno inserita fra i migliori libri dell''anno. La rivista Time ha incluso Saunders nella sua lista delle 100 persone più influenti al mondo. Nel dicembre 2013, La Repubblica e minima&moralia, il blog di minimum fax, hanno pubblicato un memorabile discorso di Saunders agli studenti della Syracuse University in cui lo scrittore invita i neolaureati a basare la propria vita sulla gentilezza verso il prossimo invece che sull''ambizione personale. In poche ore il pezzo è stato letto da decine di migliaia di persone (20.000 solo le condivisioni su Facebooke Twitter) e ripreso da altri blog e testate. Per chi non l''avesse ancora letto, perchi vuole conservarlo o regalarlo, minimum fax lo ripubblica ora in questo volumetto, accompagnato da un attualissimo saggio («L''uomo col megafono») contro la retorica politica urlata e violenta, e da un''intervista inedita all''autore. A cura di Christian Raimo.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This inspiring meditation on kindness from the author of Lincoln in the Bardo is based on his popular commencement address. Three months after George Saunders gave a graduation address at Syracuse University, a transcript of that speech was posted on the website of The New York Times, where its simple, uplifting message struck a deep chord. Within days, it had been shared more than one million times. Why? Because Saunders’s words tap into a desire in all of us to lead kinder, more fulfilling lives. Powerful, funny, and wise, Congratulations, by the way is an inspiring message from one of today’s most influential and original writers. Praise for Congratulations, by the way “As slender as a psalm, and as heavy.”—The New York Times “The graduating college senior in your life probably just wants money. But if you want to impart some heartfelt, plainspoken wisdom in addition to a check, you can''t do much better than [Congratulations, by the way].”—Entertainment Weekly “The loving selflessness that [George Saunders] advises and the interconnectedness that he recognizes couldn’t be purer or simpler—or more challenging.”—Kirkus Reviews “Warm and tender.”—Publishers Weekly

Een onbeholpen antiquair die zichzelf voor de gek houdt; twee moeders die allebei het beste willen voor hun kinderen; een jongeman die het zwaar te verduren krijgt als hij wordt onderworpen aan een reeks farmaceutische experimenten die hem opgeilen, doen liefhebben en doen doden dat zijn slechts enkele van de onvergetelijke personages die Tien december bevolken. George Saunders schrijft over klassenverschillen, seks, liefde, verlies, vertwijfeling en oorlog. Tien december is de meest integere, meest toegankelijke en meest ontroerende bundel die George Saunders tot dusver heeft gepubliceerd. George Saunders is een van de belangrijkste en oorspronkelijkste schrijvers uit het Engelse taalgebied en een onbetwiste meester van het korte verhaal. Eerder verschenen van hem de verhalenbundels CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia en In Persuasion Nation. Saunders publiceert onder andere in The New Yorker en McSweeneys en werd in 2013 door Time Magazine opgenomen in de lijst van de 100 meest invloedrijke mensen ter wereld. `Al jaren probeer ik iedereen aan George Saunders te krijgen. Dave Eggers `Tien december is een warm en grappig boek. [...] Sommige verhalen dansen bijna van plezier. De Groene Amsterdammer `Tien december toont George Saunders op zijn grappigst, meest revolutionair en indringendst. Authentiek, altijd vindingrijk, en tegelijk diep menselijk. Jennifer Egan

Con questa raccolta di racconti, George Saunders è stato consacrato come uno dei migliori autori di short stories degli Stati Uniti di oggi; paragonato di volta in volta a Vonnegut, Pynchon, Twain, qui dimostra una volta di più il suo talento di scrittore comico e visionario, ma anche profondamente e seriamente critico rispetto alla società contemporanea. Il mondo di Saunders è una versione alterata del nostro, in cui il consumismo, la potenza dei media e dei messaggi pubblicitari, la cultura dello spettacolo, l''aziendalismo, la spersonalizzazione sono elevati all''ennesima potenza e condotti alle loro più estreme, e tragicomiche, conseguenze. Il risultato è una realtà deformata in cui le normali esperienze umane, dal portare un nipotino a teatro al cuocersi una bistecca (per non parlare dell''innamorarsi, fare un figlio e allevarlo) diventano piccoli incubi prodotti dalla burocrazia e dal mercato globale; e viceversa personaggi di soap opera, sacchetti di patatine e scimpanzé da laboratorio acquistano una vita interiore tutta loro. Ma al centro di questo originalissimo e scatenato teatro dell''assurdo c''è l''esigenza di riaffermare, rispetto alle degenerazioni del nostro tempo, l''importanza del libero pensiero e dei rapporti autentici fra le persone: Nel paese della persuasione è una lettura esilarante ma anche un invito accorato alla riflessione e al cambiamento.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST FICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY AND BUZZFEED • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: People, The New York Times Magazine, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, New York, The Telegraph, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, Shelf Awareness Includes an extended conversation with David Sedaris One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet. In the taut opener, “Victory Lap,” a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In “Home,” a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders’s signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation. Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human. Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December—through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit—not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov’s dictum that art should “prepare us for tenderness.” GEORGE SAUNDERS WAS NAMED ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD BY TIME MAGAZINE

Since its publication in 1996, George Saunders’s debut collection has grown in esteem from a cherished cult classic to a masterpiece of the form, inspiring an entire generation of writers along the way. In six stories and a novella, Saunders hatches an unforgettable cast of characters, each struggling to survive in an increasingly haywire world. With a new introduction by Joshua Ferris and a new author’s note by Saunders himself, this edition is essential reading for those seeking to discover or revisit a virtuosic, disturbingly prescient voice. Praise for George Saunders and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline “It’s no exaggeration to say that short story master George Saunders helped change the trajectory of American fiction.”—The Wall Street Journal “Saunders’s satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it’s also ferocious and very funny.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “George Saunders is a writer of arresting brilliance and originality, with a sure sense of his material and apparently inexhaustible resources of voice. [CivilWarLand in Bad Decline] is scary, hilarious, and unforgettable.”—Tobias Wolff “Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless.”—Jonathan Franzen “Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny.”—Zadie Smith “An astoundingly tuned voice—graceful, dark, authentic, and funny—telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times.”—Thomas Pynchon