George Saunders on: "Holy Befuddlement" and How to Be Less of a "Turd"

About this episode

<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p><em>---</em></p> <p>One of the great perils and problems of our age is that we sometimes become too entrenched in our views and attached to being right. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>According to guest George Saunders, the antidote is something he calls "holy befuddlement." </p> <p><br /></p> <p>George Saunders is the author of eleven books, including <em>Lincoln in the Bardo</em>, which won the 2017 Man Booker Prize for best work of fiction in English. His most recent book, <em>Liberation Day</em>, is a collection of short stories that explore the ideas of power, ethics, and justice, cutting to the heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. </p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>In this episode we talk about:</strong></p> <p><br /></p> <ul> <li>How George Saunders creates "holy befuddlement" in himself and in his readers</li> <li>How shaving down dogmatism can help us be, in his words, less of a "turd"</li> <li>How to deal with heightened expectations we might have of ourselves</li> <li>Healthy ways to enjoy praise</li> <li>What it looks like to cultivate a relationship with our self, to the extent that the self exists</li> <li>The importance of moral ambiguity in his work</li> <li>The impact of meditating – or not meditating – on our creative work </li> <li>And forgiveness and coming up short</li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href= "https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/george-saunders-511" rel="noopener noreferrer" target= "_blank">https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/george-saunders-511</a></p> <p><br /></p>