A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

by George Saunders

If we feel we are nothing and have always been nothing, that’s one story. But if we feel that we are nothing and then, in one miraculous instant, remember that, once, we were something—is that a happier story or a sadder one?

When your lover dies or leaves you, there you are, still yourself, with your particular way of loving. And there is the world, still full of people to love.