Death, Sex & Money The Women Who Made George Saunders A Wife Guy
Feb 3, 2026
George Saunders, acclaimed fiction writer and professor, shares stories from oil-field misadventures to a whirlwind three-week romance that shaped his life. He talks about how female praise in childhood fueled his confidence. Conversations cover balancing technical jobs with writing, Paula’s steady moral influence, and the creation of his new novel Vigil.
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Big Imagination, Tiny Details
- George Saunders blends big imaginative swings with close attention to everyday detail in his fiction.
- That mix makes moral questions about characters feel immediate and relatable.
Indonesia Oil-Field Catastrophe
- Saunders recounts auditing seismic records in Sumatran oil camps and sometimes joining jungle drilling crews.
- He describes a massive map-grid mismatch that made millions of dollars of exploration effectively random.
Three-Week Engagement
- Saunders arrived at Syracuse with $300 and lived in his truck before getting engaged after three weeks.
- He describes the engagement as a karmic, urgent pull that changed his life direction.
