George Saunders’s Lincoln

George Saunders’s short stories have made him one of the most influential writers working today. Earlier this year, he published his first novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” which recently won the prestigious Man Booker Prize. The book chronicles one very dark night in the soul of Abraham Lincoln. Saunders drew inspiration from a statue that stands right outside his office at Syracuse University. The bronze sculpture, “Lincoln the Mystic,” by James Earle Fraser, portrays a young Abraham Lincoln looking contemplative—or, as Saunders sees it, sad and defeated. For the novelist, Lincoln’s acceptance of “how shitty things are” is a testament to the President’s spiritual wisdom. 

This segment originally aired on January 13, 2017.