Lincoln in the Bardo

The novel Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, published by Random House in 2017, offers a portrait of an American legend in mourning, surrounded by a poignant but funny cast of 166 characters. It is Saunders’s debut novel, though he has been a notable author of short story collections for decades. The novel won the prestigious Man Booker Prize and was a New York Times best seller.

Set in 1862, Lincoln in the Bardo is ostensibly historical fiction centered on one night in the life of 16th US President Abraham Lincoln, just after the tragic death of his young son. However, Saunders infuses his novel with supernatural elements, magical realism, black comedy, and psychological narrative to explore what it means to be human. As Lincoln grieves at the site of his son’s grave, readers encounter the ghosts of others buried in the cemetery alongside the boy; their lives and the rules by which they are allowed to haunt the living form the core of the novel’s plot. Each ghostly voice speaks in a pastiche of writing

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