I’ve been reading the extraordinary short stories of George Saunders for nearly 20 years, and one thing I’d never thought was that his warped, sneakily malicious and increasingly sentimental vision of 10-minutes-into-the-future America would ever seem particularly prophetic.
Saunders’s dystopian stories are about an America that is more re-enactment theme park or sci-fi, corporate-speak circus than functioning democracy. There were times I thought that Saunders’s America was a little over-the-top, a little too satirical and on the nose.
Then 2016 happened, maybe the least subtle year since 1933.
Turning on the TV, it was suddenly like the news was being written by Saunders. Donald Trump even talked as if he were a Saunders character: his all too revealing tossed word salad of venom, steely ignorance and neediness. Trump feels like the end point of an enraged, entertainment-saturated America that Saunders's short fiction has been mining for decades. Then, lo and behold, after four collections of short stories and a novella, Saunders's first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, is a book about a President.
The prophetic Saunders of CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (1996) has stepped back from contemporary or future America and, seemingly, gone back to the actual Civil War and the last time the nation almost ceased to exist. Or, more particularly, the novel is about when Willie Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of Abraham Lincoln, ceased to exist after succumbing to typhoid fever in 1862.
Except, Willie Lincoln doesn’t exactly cease to exist. He wakes up in the Oak Hill Cemetery, surrounded by a Greek chorus of other spirits also caught between life on earth and whatever comes next. This is the bardo of the novel’s title, the transitional space that the Buddhists believe follows life on Earth, but precedes rebirth.
That the novel isn’t really about the Civil War, or even so much about Lincoln, was my first disappointment. How I wanted Saunders’s voice, after these last few months.
The novel operates like a cross between a film script and an oral history, much of it narrated by two woebegone ghost pals, Hans Vollman and Roger Bevins III. Other parts of the novel use actual quotes from historical sources mixed in with those created by Saunders to give an overview of the time. It must be said, given current events, that it’s hard not to see the novel as a kind of Twitter feed gone all literary and historical:
There in his seat, Mr. Lincoln startled.
roger bevins iii
Like a schoolboy jolting suddenly awake in class.
hans vollman
Looked around.
roger bevins iii
Momentarily unsure, it seemed, of where he was.
hans vollman
Like a lot of great works of literature, the novel teaches you how to read it while you’re reading it. It occasionally finds poetry in this mode of telling, and the liminal space it evokes can be both hilarious and chilling. And, too often, wearying. These spirits do tend to prattle on.
But Lincoln in the Bardo falls short of being a great work mostly because its concept never quite convinces. The point seems to be that these spirits can't move on because they don't accept that they're dead, thinking themselves only "sick". I found this central premise hollow. And when little Willie joins them, and for some reason, begins to be destroyed, the novel falls into some heavy-handed supernatural action sequences from which it's hard to care about the outcome. The threat never seems valid. Not once did I ever worry that Willie was going to be damned to the hell that Saunders has created for him.
But there are quiet moments in the near-constant ghostly babble, too. Every scene with the president, who visits his dead son’s corpse, are perfect, and achingly sad. Saunders’s Lincoln is a weighty and real creation. Here is an incredible display of empathetic and wise writing. Saunders’s Lincoln makes so much of the rest of he book feel half-baked, loud and aimless. If only the book were just about Lincoln. But, then, this might be a product of the terrifying new Saunders-like era we’re in: it’s hard not to read about a president such as Lincoln these days and not want more of him around. I’m not sure if we can entirely blame George Saunders for that.
Tod Wodicka’s second novel The Household Spirit was published in 2015. He lives in Los Angeles.
Naga
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Company%20Profile
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Top 10 most polluted cities
- Bhiwadi, India
- Ghaziabad, India
- Hotan, China
- Delhi, India
- Jaunpur, India
- Faisalabad, Pakistan
- Noida, India
- Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- Peshawar, Pakistan
- Bagpat, India
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Wednesday's results
Finland 3-0 Armenia
Faroes Islands 1-0 Malta
Sweden 1-1 Spain
Gibraltar 2-3 Georgia
Romania 1-1 Norway
Greece 2-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Liechtenstein 0-5 Italy
Switzerland 2-0 Rep of Ireland
Israel 3-1 Latvia
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The five pillars of Islam
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
