'The Interview': George Saunders Says Ditching These Three Delusions Can Save You

What It Covers

George Saunders discusses his new novel Vigil, the relationship between Buddhist practice and writing craft, why ditching three core delusions about self can reduce suffering, and teaching creative writing at Syracuse University's MFA program.

Key Questions Answered

• •Three delusions to abandon: Permanence (believing you won't die), self-importance (thinking you're the center of reality), and separateness (feeling disconnected from others). Releasing these through meditation or writing creates moments of clarity and reduces anxiety-driven behavior.
• •Specificity negates judgment: When writing characters you initially dislike, working harder to know their specific memories, actions, and experiences dissolves the impulse to judge them. Deep engagement with particularity transforms contempt into understanding, even temporarily making you become that person on the page.
• •Writing as consciousness refinement: Concentrating intensely on two to three pages during revision, making micro-edits like solving a Rubik's cube, elevates the language you think in. This refined perceptual instrument changes how you experience the world, making you more articulate and aware beyond the page.
• •Teaching through gentle noticing: Identify student habits (often borrowed from other writers) and simply name them without harsh judgment. Point to moments of genuine sincerity they're hiding behind ironic distance, giving permission to embrace earnestness rather than remaining defensively edgy in their work.