Tuesday, November 30, 2021

A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders - Non-fiction

George Saunders in A Swim in the Pond in the Rain evaluates short stories by four Russian writers set in Russia in the 19th century. The stories depict the way of life in Russia exposing the classism during that era.

Saunders uses these stories to train his students on how to write short stories. He dissects each of the stories, mulls about how each author presents the story giving a glimpse of life and culture in Russia. Certain components of each of the stories are pulled apart with an understanding of its meaning and portrayal of the characters in the stories.

Saunders delves into how the Russian authors could have depicted the stories in a different light. He suggests possible interpretations of the various scenarios in each of the stories. 

Throughout Saunders brings in short story writing techniques. It is a brilliant methodology of engaging the students in the art of the appropriate process of arranging words, phrases as well as incorporating metaphors and clever sentence structure to enable each short story come alive in the eyes of the reader.  

A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders is a constructive handbook for writing short stories. It provides significant insights along with very good examples of how to engage the reader in a short story. 

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