Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa From The Archives – Lincoln In The Bardo: George Saunders On Writing With Empathy, Listening To The Past & Finding Light In The Depths Of Grief
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Jan 26, 2026 
George Saunders, award-winning novelist known for Lincoln in the Bardo, talks about experimenting with form and writing through grief. He explains why he chose ghosts and a bardo-like afterlife, how the idea grew over decades, and how distinct voices and humor shape a mournful story. A lively, compassionate conversation about risk, craft, and finding light amid sorrow.
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Form Solves The Narrative Problem
- Saunders used form as a solution to a storytelling problem, choosing ghosts to narrate private cemetery events.
- He mixed real historical text and invented citations to make the novel workable and distinct.
Bardo As Amplified Mind State
- The Bardo is a transitional mental space where unresolved desires intensify because the mind's tether is cut.
- Saunders frames his ghosts as stuck in amplified versions of their living regrets and denials.
Roger Bevins Came From Personal Joy
- Roger Bevins III emerged as a voice of reverence after Saunders imagined a suicidal character who changes his mind.
- Saunders enjoyed writing Bevins' long lists of beloved small things as a personal expression of joy in being alive.
