616: A Book Discussion of George Saunders's A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, with Rachael Tillman!

The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life

On today's show, Rachael and I discuss George Saunders's discussion of seven short stories by Russian authors. Since Saunders's book is the result of teaching these stories in MFA craft courses over multiple decades, this book and today's discussion simulates an important part of the MFA experience, for those who wonder what that might be like.

The stories:

1. Anton Chekhov's "In the Cart" (1897)
2. Ivan Turgenev's "The Singers" (1852)
3. Anton Chekhov's "The Darling" (1899)
4. Leo Tolstoy's "Master and Man" (1895)
5. Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose" (1836)
6. Anton Chekhov's "Gooseberries" (1898)
7. Leo Tolstoy's "Alyosha The Pot" (1905)