George Saunders Explores Love, Death and Purgatory in 'Lincoln in the Bardo'

Award-winning author George Saunders joins Forum to talk about his debut novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo.” Set in a graveyard at the outset of the Civil War, the story centers on Abraham Lincoln as he grieves for his son Willie, who died of typhoid was he was eleven years old. “Bardo” refers to the Tibetan concept of purgatory, a state Lincoln finds himself in as he mingles with spirits and tries to make sense of his son’s death. We’ll talk to Saunders about the novel, its Buddhist themes and what inspired it.