A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

I love George Saunders, and this was one of my picks for my reading group. The subject was to pick books about books, and I thought this was a good way to finally get around to reading this book. Although it probably helps to be more familiar with the works he analyzes, he also provides these stories in the text, so we can read along as he shares the process of deconstructing and analyzing these texts from different stylistic methods just like he would in his writing seminars. This was my favorite part of this book, being able to be like a participant in one of his classes. I loved that Saunders shared his methods and activities for analyzing these stories, while also encouraging his students to think about and consider adapting or adopting some of these methods for plot, character development, and themes in their writing. As someone who is not completely familiar with 19th century Russian literature, I found the topic to be a little intimidating, but I think that Saunders provides enough background to fill in any gaps, and makes some of the cultural and class distinctions relevant to modern day readers. Although it probably took the longest, I appreciated the first method where we worked through short sections with Saunders as he analyzed the text of the story; this kept the details fresh and allowed me to better understand the craft. However, I can also appreciate how reading the story first and then going back to analyze the details might also work. In any case, I think this is a great book for literature lovers as well as teachers, since it provides insights into writing as well as how to help students understand literature and potentially think about their own creative writing by applying the methods and strategies used by these Russian masters. It’s also just great to read along with the class to help examine elements of the stories that one might not encounter on an initial read.

For whatever reason, I have never really sought out short stories - but I loved George Saunders' "Lincoln in the Bardo" so I was excited to check out "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain". By the end of the book I have slotted in a couple of books of stories - one by Saunders and another set of Russian classics - into my reading queue.The book is essentially an on-paper class on the short story form and analysis of classic Russian fiction as taught by Syracuse professor Saunders. Does that sound pretty awesome to you? It did to me, and it still does - and I highly recommend it!In terms of structure, you read the original (translated, obviously) story and then Saunders digs into all aspects of the story thoroughly, followed by an afterword where he brings additional context. For the first story he takes things apart one page at a time, which was actually incredibly instructive and sets your mind into an analytical frame for the remainder of the book. That was important for me, as the style and importance of each word and sentence of a short story is much greater than in a longer novel or analysis book.There is some really great stuff here - from disparate stories such ‘Master and Man’ to ‘The Nose’, you are taken on a journey of wildly varying styles, narration, subjects, intents, and translational difficulties. These are clearly masters of the form - in ‘Master and Man’ I put the book aside for a couple of days because I knew bad stuff was coming and wasn’t ready yet!If I had a single complaint - and of course I do - it is that the combined story analysis and afterthoughts started to ‘overstay their welcome’ for the stories in the middle of the book. A couple of times I found myself saying “I GET IT” and had to slog through the extended analysis - but it wasn’t that I disagreed or had issues with Saunders’ takes on things, just that I was already ‘there’ in terms of understanding the story and nuances.While reading these stories and the analysis I learned a ton about the form - every sentence had a purpose, every paragraph advanced the action - and wondered why I never got into them before. I am excited to read collections of stories soon!Make no mistake - this is as much a college course as it is a set of short stores. There are exercises and side-studies for the reader to do, such as reworking paragraphs of text. If you are interested in not just reading great stories, but also learning about the form, authors and individual stories in depth I strongly recommend checking it out!

Anyone who writes for a living in any field needs this book.

I loved reading it, it is really well written, a joy to read and full of wisdom, insights and last but not least humor. I loved the Russian short stories and how Saunders dissceted them.

This is essential reading for wannabe writers and passionate readers. For the former it provides inspiration and confidence. For the latter it provides sheer joy. Much gratitude for the author. Wish had attended a class of his in person. Sigh.

Certo Saunders scrive bene. Ma questo libro è troppo testo scolastico, analisi che non mi piacciono. Non credo che gli autori di questi esemplari di narrativa hanno pensato come Saunders. Ho imparato qualcosa, ma non è un libro che leggerò una seconda volta.

What a joy to read this book. It’s sublime. Saunders takes you through a small collection of Russian short stories and explores the craft of writing in minute and spellbinding detail. There are stories by Chekhov, Tolstoy and Gogol included, and each story is printed in full so that you can first of all read it and reach your own conclusions and then compare your reactions to Saunders’ own.There are fascinating insights into the writers’ lives. For example, did you know that Gogol was obsessed with noses, afraid of leeches abs could touch the top of his nose with his tongue? Or that his nickname at school was “the mysterious dwarf”? I didn’t either. Did you know Tolstoy had 13 children? (His poor wife). There’s so much humour, too. I laughed out loud.There are also delightful comments about life in general which seem to speak to me: ‘Power is held by shitheads; virtuous people suffer unfairly. Happy, fortunate people, to whom everything has been given, preach positivity to sad, unlucky people, who were given nothing. We push the button labelled ‘I Need Help’ and one of those boxing gloves comes out and hits us in the face as the machine lets out a comic farting noise.’Although I didn’t always agree with the author’s evaluations and deconstructions of the texts, I found his insights and analysis totally fascinating, and the experience of reading this book has made me: more aware of what I need to do to improve my writing (basically, revision and causation); more aware of the body of Russian literature that I need to read; burn with desire to attend a series of lectures with the author and engage with his teaching in greater depth. Which isn’t likely to happen. But that’s life.