Last fall, George Saunders was awarded the National Book Foundation’s medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. In the speech introducing him, alongside a glowing rundown of his literary résumé — author of 13 books, a past National Book Award finalist — he was called “the ultimate teacher of kindness and of craft.” Pretty good, right? Well, mostly.
The craft part isn’t the issue. Saunders, who is 67 and has a new novel out this month called “Vigil,” about two angelic beings visiting the deathbed of an oil tycoon and climate-change-denial mastermind, has been a revered teacher in Syracuse’s prestigious creative-writing M.