On March 25, Professor Sandra Gustafson hosted the second event in this semester’s Griffin Faculty Lunch Series: The Spirit World of George Saunders. Over lunch, Professor Gustafson led students in a discussion of how Saunders’ work “focuses on the interface of life and death as a way to explore personal and social change.” While Saunders has authored highly decorated short story collections, Professor Gustafson and the group focused on his novels Lincoln in the Bardo and Vigil. Lincoln in the Bardo, published in 2017, won the year’s Booker Prize. In January of this year, Saunders published his second novel, Vigil. Attendees of the lunch received a copy of Saunders’ 2026 novel.
Throughout his fiction, Saunders represents a unique perspective on spirituality and its impact on life and death. During the lunch, students focused on key moments in each novel that relate to Saunders’ personal religious experience. While Saunders was raised Catholic, the author has practiced Tibetan Buddhism since the 1980s. With this knowledge, Prof. Gustafson encouraged students to note points of contact between the two religions within Saunders’ prose. By examining ancient religions in modern prose, students broadened their perspective on the nature and representation of spirituality in 21st-century literature.
Stay tuned for the next Griffin Student/Faculty Lunch!