Stories That Singe

Our world is stranger than fiction but not George Saunders's fiction. In Liberation Day, his first collection of short stories in nearly a decade, the Booker Prize winning author of 11 previous books tees up nine genrebending tales of hell-themed amusement parks and brainwashed protesters for hire. In a world getting weirder every day, these stories are the medicine we need. Saunders sat down with Esquire to take us inside his creative process.

- By Adrienne Westenfeld

ESQ: Our political climate is so polarized these days. How do you think about political fiction now?

GS: A story is a place where politics takes off its stiff clothing and puts on some pajamas. You suddenly see that politics always shows up in people's lives. Fiction gives those people room to move around. But this is where the skill comes in, because if it's just overt propaganda, fiction is very snobby about that. Even if the writer has strong political beliefs, it forces you to personify and particularize them. In that process, I've always found my political beliefs not exactly softening, but becoming more intelligent. They're more empathetic and a little more patient. Reading a story that has an ostensibly political basis does the same thing.