George Saunders started writing because he wanted first to be Ernest Hemingway and then Jack Kerouac. It was only when he stopped trying to climb "Mount Hemingway" and started writing from his own voice that he developed the confidence that has made him perhaps the most acclaimed writer of short fiction in contemporary American literature.
Saunders was on campus for a two-day visit Tuesday and Wednesday sponsored by the Department of English and the Blackburn Literary Fund. He gave a public talk Tuesday night at the John Hope Franklin Center and then met with students in the English Department lounge the next morning.
Trained as an engineer, Saunders told the Duke students Wednesday that it was a thrilling but bittersweet moment when he found that he could write in an original voice; bittersweet, he said with a laugh, because his vision seemed so limited in comparison to his literary heroes.
In the discussion, he discussed the short story form, his experiences as an engineer, his dreams of following Hemingway as a war correspondent and his work as a professor at Syracuse University.
Saunders has written six honored collections of fiction, including one novella for children. His most recent book is "Tenth of December: Stories."
Saunders was the second noted author to visit campus in two weeks. Last week Zadie Smith spoke in von der Heyden Pavilion as part of the Blackburn Literary Festival.
Photo by Jared Lazarus/Duke University Photography