Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Yesterday I had a phone conversation with a friend about George Saunders' new book of essays: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. It's structured with seven stories by great Russian writers, including Gogol, Turgenev, Chekov, and Tolstoy with accompanying discussion and afterthoughts. For two decades Saunders has taught at Syracuse University, and in his class on Russian short stories, covers several dozen stories, but even from this short selection we can deduce what an amazing teacher he must be. What my friend and I love about his writing, besides his Buddhist bent, is how emotional and immediately felt it is. He engages fully. He also has a great sense of humor, and, dare I say it? Joy. This joy is contageous, and our delight as readers is exponental. The stories chosen are great, but not without some flaws, and we love the flaws as well, for what they reveal about the humanity of the authors. I know Saunders is not everyone's cup of tea. My erudite son quit Lincoln in the Bardon not half way through, and I get it. But for my friend and I, the goofiness and strange goings on in his writing points out his fresh engagement with what he writes. The writing feels immediate. We were teasing ourselves about what a fun evening it would be with just us, George Saunders and Haruki Murakami. Buddhism rules!