Like Vonnegut, your writing veers toward science fiction while still remaining in the literature section of the bookstore. My guess is, we are attracted to writers who are doing something that it is in our nature to do-so we imitate them for awhile so that we can eventually distinguish what in us is different from them-and move on accordingly. And, from a creative standpoint, there’s probably not all that much value in describing it, if you see what I mean. That is, I don’t think the sum change could necessarily be described. And you are changed, both as a writer and a person-but in thousands of ways that are too subtle to describe, except in very broad terms. And then, at the end, all of the things that are “you” have been filtered through these various influences. I think influence works like this: you are madly casting about for something to love, so you know better how to direct your energy. There are a lot of questions that the writer himself probably doesn’t think much about, or the answer to which he can’t really articulate. In the writing, what ways do you feel your influences have expressed themselves? Your teacher Tobias Wolff is an obvious one, but you’ve also written at length about how Vonnegut changed your idea about what literature was. You tend to wear your influences on your sleeve. ” But despite having one hell of a pedigree, George Saunders remains humble and approachable, and was willing to shoot emails back and forth with me over a weekend on voice, process and genre. But “ Tenth” is only one of several notable collections, which include “ CivilWarLand in Bad Declin e,” “ In Persuasion Nation ” and “ Pastoralia. His newest collection, “ Tenth of December ,” has made him into a New York Times best-selling author. He’s a writer, a professor at Syracuse University and a MacArthur Fellow (aka “genius”).

George saunders december