“ Lincoln in Bardo ” ( born Lincoln in the Bardo ) is an experimental novel by the American writer George Saunders , published in 2017 [1] . This is the first “long” novel by Saunders (before that, he wrote mostly short stories and essays [2] [3] [4] ), declared by the New York Times on March 5, 2017 as the best seller of the week [5] .
| Lincoln in bardo | |
|---|---|
| Lincoln in the bardo | |
| Author | George Saunders |
| Genre | historical prose |
| Original language | English |
| Original issued | 2017 |
| Publisher | Random House (USA) |
| Pages | 368 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8129-9534-3 |
The novel takes place on the night of February 20, 1862, at the time of the death of William , son of US President Abraham Lincoln and after it, and develops mainly in bardo , the intermediate state between the beginning of dying and the separation of the soul from the body .
The novel “Lincoln in Bardo” was recognized by literary critics and was awarded the 2017 Booker Prize [6] [7] .
Content
Plan and Preparation
The idea of the novel arose in Saunders under the influence of the story of his wife's cousin about the behavior of Lincoln after the death of his son - in particular, the mention that Lincoln visited William’s crypt several times at in and touched the body of the deceased [8] , which is confirmed by several other sources [9] .
In March 2017, Saunders spoke in detail about the background and concept of his novel:
Many years ago, when we visited Washington, DC, my wife's cousin pointed out a crypt on a hill to us and mentioned that in 1862, when Abraham Lincoln was president, his beloved son William died and was temporarily buried in this crypt, and killed broken by lincoln, according to reports of newspapers of the time, went to the crypt several times to touch the body of the boy. An image spontaneously appeared in my head that united the Lincoln Memorial and the Drink . This image has been with me for the next 20 plus years, but I was too afraid to embody what seemed so deep to me. Finally, in 2012, noting that I was not getting younger, I thought that I didn’t want the inscription “Fearing to create a scary art project, he waited too long” appeared on my gravestone, I decided to work out my plan for now as a research project, without any commitment. My novel “Lincoln in the Bardo” is the result of this attempt [...]
Saunders first reported the idea of the novel in an interview with the New York Times in 2015 with writer Jennifer Egan , stating that the novel will have “an element of the supernatural,” but in general the work “will remain historical” [10] . The name of the novel was first sounded in the conversation of Saunders with Susan Sarandon , published in the magazine Interview in April 2016 [11] . In the same month, the announcement of the book was published on the website of the publisher Random House [12] .
While working on the novel, Saunders studied a large number of sources about the life of Abraham Lincoln and the civil war , in particular, Edmund Wilson (1962) [13] , to get the “necessary historical facts”, excerpts from some sources used in the novel [14] . Along with the authentic sources, Saunders used and fictional [15] .
Incarnation
The action of most of the novel is developed in the bardo - the state described in Buddhism as a set of certain "intermediate states" (literally, "between the two"), in which there is also a "Bardo of the Dying Process" (Chikhai bardo) - the interval between the moment of the beginning of dying , and moment when there is a separation of the mind and body. In the description of Saunders, the “ ghosts ” living in the bardo “are disfigured by desires that they did not fulfill while they were alive,” and they are threatened by constant trapping in a limited space [16] . They do not know that they have already died, seeing the space as their “hospital yard”, and their coffins as “hospital chambers” [16] .
Saunders noted that, although he called the novel a term from Tibetan Buddhism , he also included elements of Christian and ancient Egyptian ideas about the afterlife , so as not to be "too literal." The choice of the word “bardo”, in his words, “partially helped to warn the reader of many preconceptions ... in the book about the afterlife, as well as destroy all existing ideas as much as you can” [17] .
Critic reviews
According to the estimates of the American literary magazine from 42 critics' reviews of the novel “Lincoln in the Bardo”, only 3 contained mixed assessments, which indicates an “enthusiastic” reception from the side of criticism [18] . The writer in an article in The New York Times, called the book of Saunders "a brilliant feat of generosity and humanism" [19] . Some critics compared the novel with Edgar Lee Masters ' famous anthology of Spoon River (Spoon River Anthology, 1915) - a collection of poetic epitaphs telling about the fate of the inhabitants of a provincial town [16] [20] [21] .
Notes
- Ter Alter, Alexandra George Saunders Wins The Man Booker Prize for 'Lincoln in the Bardo' (17 October 2017). The date of appeal is October 19, 2017.
- ↑ Iaciofano, by Carol George Saunders' 'the Lincoln with In of The Bardo' Goes Inside Our 16Th President is yet Mind's the At A Pivotal Moment WBUR (14 February 2017). The appeal date is February 17, 2017.
- L 'Lincoln In The Bardo' Pictures An American Saint Of Sorrow . NPR (11 February 2017). The appeal date is February 17, 2017.
- Head Whitehead, Colson Colson Whitehead on Lincoln and Lost Souls . The New York Times (9 February 2017). The appeal date is February 17, 2017.
- ↑ Hardcover Fiction - March 5, 2017 . The New York Times (23 February 2017). The appeal date is February 24, 2017.
- ↑ Man Booker Prize 2017: shortlist makes room for debuts alongside big names . The Guardian (13 September 2017). The appeal date is September 13, 2017.
- ↑ Booker winner took 20 years to write , BBC News (18 October 2017). The appeal date is October 18, 2017.
- ↑ Rosenberg, Tal The Chicago education of George Saunders . Chicago Reader (21 February 2017). The appeal date is February 26, 2017.
- ↑ Mallon, Thomas George Saunders Gets Inside Lincoln's Head . The New Yorker (13 February 2017). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- Gan Egan, Jennifer Conversation With Jennifer Egan and George Saunders . The New York Times (12 November 2015). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- ↑ Susan Sarandon / George Saunders . Interview Magazine (4 April 2016). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- Ph Shephard, George Saunders' First Novel . The New Republic (29 April 2016). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- ↑ George Saunders: By the Book . The New York Times (16 February 2017). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- ↑ Smith, Zadie George Saunders by Zadie Smith . Interview Magazine (2 February 2017). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- ↑ Corrigan, Maureen George Saunders' Re-Imagines President’s Grief With 'Lincoln In The Bardo' . NPR (9 February 2017). The date of circulation is July 15, 2017.
- 2 1 2 3 Crain, Caleb The Sentimental Sadist . The Atlantic (25 March 2017). The appeal date is February 25, 2017.
- ↑ Consciousness Is Not Correct: A Conversation with George Saunders (Eng.) , Weld for Birmingham (February 15, 2017).
- ↑ Bookmarks reviews of Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (inaccessible link) . LitHub. Circulation date October 18, 2017. Archived October 18, 2017.
- ↑ Whitehead, Colson . Colson Whitehead on Lincoln and Lost Souls (Eng.) , The New York Times (February 9, 2017).
- Ch Finch, Charles Review: George Saunders' remarkable first novel, 'Lincoln in the Bardo' . Chicago Tribune (17 February 2017). The appeal date is February 26, 2017.
- ↑ Kakutani, Michiko Review: 'Lincoln in the Bardo' Shows a President Haunted by Grief . The New York Times (6 February 2017). The appeal date is February 26, 2017.