“A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” by George Saunders

“What is it, exactly, that fiction does? Well, that’s the question we’ve been asking all along, as we’ve been watching our minds read these Russian stories. We’ve been comparing the pre-reading state of our minds to the post-reading. And that’s what fiction does; it causes an incremental change in the state of a mind. That’s it.”

For twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a writing class at Syracuse University based on nineteenth century Russian short stories. Saunders loves teaching this class. He also loves these classic Russian writers and their stories. So, he “decided to write this book…and offer a modest version of this class to you.” Yep, that’s right. “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” is a college lit and writing class.

Not gonna lie – I stopped here so suddenly I heard the needle scratch across the record. It’s the first page of the book and already I started to sweat a little. Do I need a highlighter? Should I take notes? Is there a test? You see, it wasn’t so much the words “college class” that got me but “Russian writers.” And here I’m going to diverge to a little story of my own.

I hated reading growing up, all because I was given a book that was above my reading level. It was “Black Beauty” and not a kid-friendly version but the 1877 original from Anna Sewell. My grandfather gave it to me because I loved horses but not reading. Under his watchful eye, I slogged through that book over an entire summer and hated every archaic language filled page. Fast forward to my early teens and I’m still a reluctant reader. My dad, on the other hand, just consumed books. A minister who started his college career as an historian, he mostly read non-fiction and would have three or four sitting on his ottoman, bookmarks sticking out the tops, while another rested in his lap. Taking a stab at energizing my reading interest, he gave me a book and said, “try this.” It was “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien. And it changed my life. I LOVED that book. Couldn’t put it down. Got so excited about it I tackled the Lord of the Rings trilogy (okay, I’ll admit to skimming over the pages and pages of battle scenes). Now around the same time there was a reading assignment in school on “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. It was okay and I did finish it. Well, that must have inspired dad to give me something different to read. The book? “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Why? Who knows? Sure, I was old enough to read it but wow, it wasn’t Middle Earth. Yet I finished it because I wanted him to see that I could. Encouraged, he gave me a couple other Russian novels that I can’t remember but by then I was going to the library and picking out my own books. My indoctrination into Russian classics ended as I fed my love of fantasy and science fiction.

Reading “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” brought this memory up for two reasons: nostalgia for my dad since he and Saunders share a love for these old Russian writers and dread over having to read these old Russian writers. But instead of closing the book and giving up I thought, “You’ve come a long way from high school and college lit classes. Give it a go.”

And I am here to say I am very glad I did.

There are three main “characters” in this book: the writer, the reader and the Russians. “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” uses the Russian short stories to demonstrate how the reader and the writer relate to each other and what makes that relationship successful. We read a story, then enter into a “discussion” of it with Saunders.

To the writer, Saunders says “everything in a story should be to a purpose…nothing exists in a story by chance.” And then he uses the events of the stories to demonstrate how everything written is there for a reason.

To the reader, Saunders says a book “proceeds, and charms us (or doesn’t), a line at a time.” A writer’s word choice is their way of describing it. As a reader, you either buy into it or not. Then he points out how the author connects reader and writer in the story. 

But the core of the book are the seven short stories themselves. Based on pure storylines alone, my favorites were Tolstoy’s “Master and Man,” Nikolai Gogol’s delightful “The Nose'' and Ivan Turgenev’s “The Singers.” The stories that provoked the best writerly conversation were “In the Cart '' and “The Darling” by Anton Chekhov. The most philosophical discussion came from “Alyosha the Pot'' by Tolstoy. And “The Gooseberries,” the story that inspired the title of the book, seemed to be about nothing but ended showing the cleverness and skill of Chekov’s writing. All have that sparseness I associate with late 19th century Russian literature but they are so vivid at the same time. I felt the cold and snow in “Master and Man.” Understood Olenka’s revolving love in “The Darling.” Became spellbound along with the rest of the pub patrons listening to Yashka in “The Singers.” And if you think turning into a cockroach was an interesting literary decision, wait til you see what happens when Kovalyov confronts his nose in church.

Halfway through the book I realized not only was I part of an in-depth discussion on Russian short stories, but I was actually READING RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES. And liking it. When Saunders would challenge you to think how a story made you feel, I stopped and thought about it, then continued to read his explanation and what the writer did to achieve that feeling. But that is Saunders interpretation; maybe you won’t get what he is saying, or believe it, or see it. That’s okay, too, he says. These “varying opinions on whether an author has delivered” are why book clubs have such healthy discussions.

I stayed right with Saunders in “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” and grew to appreciate the genius of these Russian writers. Does that mean I am going to go out and binge classic Russian lit? Probably not (sorry dad). Will I pick up the next book by Saunders? Absolutely. I look forward to seeing him deliver.