George Saunders, author of Pastoralia, wrote about Trump.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/11/george-saunders-goes-to-trump-rallies
Thoughts?
I don't think linking to an article as a start to a thread will lead to an abundance of replies. Just guessing.
I'll just assume he did it with all the subtlety and inspiration he deployed in that daring Hitler parody story of his and pass, thanks all the same
>>8243268
I found it interesting, though I'm not American so I can't really vouch for its accuracy.
Seems to get at the heart of the violence surrounding the "trump movement", particularly the way that it's been answered by liberal protesters.
>>8243297
The article is the main point of the thread. I want to see what people think of it, since a well-known author is writing about an important election.
It's the New Yorker. I can tell already what his ((opinions)) will be.
>>8243348
I don't disagree.
Just stating a educated guess on reply count.
>>8243268
>another person jumps on the Trump media bandwagon
I won't even read it.
>>8243310
>Hitler parody
I'm glad someone finally dares to satirize that literal nazi.
>>8243365
OK.
>>8243268
The second half of the article isn't so bad.
George Saunders struggling to come to terms with the objective fact that Obama is just Bush on steroids
>A Trump supporter in Fountain Hills asks me, “If you’re a liberal, do you believe in the government controlling everything? Because that’s what Barry wants to do, and what he’s pretty much accomplished.” She then makes the (to me, irrational and irritating) claim that more people are on welfare under Obama than ever were under Bush.
>“Almost fifty million people,” her husband says. “Up thirty per cent.”
>I make a certain sound I make when I disagree with something but have no facts at my disposal.
>Back at the hotel, I Google it.
>Damn it, they’re right. Rightish.
Liberals will never accept this. Barry can't be Bush!
>>8243268
Literally who
>>8243596
One of the best contemporary short story writers, pleb.
The article itself was alright, definitely got better as the ideas began to gestate and develop toward the back half of it. He was writing a little too saintly, and I think that has to do with it.
For anyone else who is not familiar with Saunders, I'd recommend extremely "The Semplica-Girl Diaries" (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/15/the-semplica-girl-diaries in b4 >newyorker) or "Tenth of December" (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/31/tenth-of-december)
>>8243630
I don't really read American all that much.
>>8243644
You should fix that.
His short stories are annoying and have absolutely nothing to say. I don't get the hype at all. I'd rather read Annie Proulx than his tripe.
Also,
>i am smart therefore i hate trump
>>8243513
>I make a certain sound I make when I disagree with something but have no facts at my disposal.
Typical.
>>8243646
I don't have much of a way to get exposed to it, only specialist dealers sell american magazines and you have to pay a lot for them. American writers short of someone like Don Delillo, Pynchon or Philip Roth won't get press here.
I do not know who this man is, but Trump's success (and that of Brexit) signify the rise of anti-intellectualism. I would be surprised if anyone on /Lit/ would defend, let alone support Trump, as those idiots on /pol/ do.
>>8243660
Interested in what stories of his you've read. I think, if anything, his stories are somewhat "moral" in the sense that they're instructive of human sympathy. That's something he holds in highest regard across all of his stories--in fact I think if you have a hard time recognizing that, you may have a difficulty in fully pouring yourself into characters from across other strands of fiction. That is to say, if you can't see the goodly humanity in Saunders and his characters, characters that trend to the pathetic but are always redeemable in their sympathy to others, you might have a hard time seeing it period.
Typical BS. Of course all the people he interviews are idiots but you don't get Trump supporting wall Street bankers shouting on tv, partly because white collar people who support non politically correct (inb4 I get abused for using this term) things get fired by pandering corporations.
Also the American media loves abusing poor whites as racist rednecks while patting themselves on the back for calling for more help for the poor blacks and Mexicans.
Where are all the new Yorker reporters who are going in to Baltimore or california to ask illiterate blacks and non English speaking Mexicans why they'll vote for Hillary?
Also look at the 2012 election voter demographics. People who makes 50k or more overwhelmingly vote Republican. Below that, Democrats. You wouldn't have guessed that based on how the media reports things (and even trump will probably not change these trends)
>>8243707
>Jamal couldn't read and had five prior rape convictions but he seemed sincere. "Mo money fo dem gibsmedats muh rims mihfugha!" I ruminated over these words while eating a lobster meal in a New York Michelin starred restaurant with my wife, a tenured Computational Linguistic Psychiatry professor at NYU.
>>8243666
where is here? Just curious.
>>8243801
Norway.
Most contemporary literature here is pretty worthless too, but at least the papers write a lot about it.
>>8243685
>Trump's success (and that of Brexit) signify the rise of anti-intellectualism
America has always been at its foundation anti-intellectual.
>>8243935
a) There is literally nothing wrong with anti-intellectualism
b) America is founded on intellectual principles and still appeal mainly to either visceral or intellectual forms
>>8243685
Denying that Obama is exactly like Bush is the height of anti-intellectualism. Obama campaigned on "Hope" and "Change" but only made Bush's policies (economic to foreign) permanent.
Liberals should be enraged with Obama but they simply can't imagine him being like Bush on paper because he just seems so much different.
>>8243685
I think you should just take your (you) and leave this thread
Authors and celebrities spouting their political opinions is completely unjustified. They shouldn't be trying to stir controversy or rally a particular viewpoint because it taints all of their work and makes it impossible to segregate the artist from his work. Its what ruined Toni Morrison because she's writing for the now instead of trying to be truly great and enduring. Its obnoxious and just trying to weigh in on issues to demonize one side of the other will inevitably seem petty and immature once this election cycle blows over.
>>8243685
>I do not know who this man is, but Trump's success (and that of Brexit) signify the rise of anti-intellectualism
This thinking will surely fix the issues both the Brexit and Trump supporters are addressing.
No really keep thinking like this, it'll calm their anger.
>>8244048
Joyce discussed politics in his writing. In fact, he couldn't shut up about Parnell if you paid him.
>>8243707
>Of course all the people he interviews are idiots
He interviewed a lot of reasonable Trump supporters.
>>8243268
>Somewhere in the crowd, a woman is shouting “Fuck you, Trump!” in a voice so thin it seems to be emanating from some distant neighborhood, where a girl is calling home her brother, Fuckhugh Trump.
bit of a laff
I literally do not have the attention span to read online articles.
Novels and 4chan posts only. I wish I were kidding. I fall asleep reading textbooks for school.
>>8243700
>That is to say, if you can't see the goodly humanity in Saunders and his characters, characters that trend to the pathetic but are always redeemable in their sympathy to others, you might have a hard time seeing it period.
So I lack humanity because I am annoyed by his fiction? Great criticism. His fiction is the latest in a series of postmodern adventures that decry corporations and capitalism in such an obvious and shallow way that I am offended this gets published, where even old Ruggles blurbs it. Even 14-year old high school communists might say something funnier about our current world. The way Saunders writes, and I've read how he says he's lucky to write one short story a year, shows exactly that when you painstakingly try to model fiction after reality you get absolutely: your fiction does not breathe, lacks wit, seems like a DFW ripoff, and lacks the humanity it espouses by imitating it in the most autistic fashion.
>>8244650
>Joyce discussed politics in his writing.
You don't actually believe this place will acknowledge that their hero was antinationalist do you?
