In George Saunders’s fourth collection of stories, Tenth of
December, the MacArthur Genius Fellow gives us 10 tales of
alternating absurdity and horror; but all are permeated with a
capacious feeling of humanity.  When you have such a
recognizable style, is it difficult to move in new directions
without fear of isolating your audience?  Kind of, yes. If
you’ve got a certain rep, it induces a little panic because
you’re aware of what you do and want to use the best parts of
that while avoiding falling into habit. What I find is that, if
I work on something very hard and continue to revise it, it
sounds something like me no matter what. But you always look for
opportunities to confound yourself. And if you suddenly find
yourself doing something that doesn’t quote unquote “sound like
yourself,” [you] kind of go: “Oh, thank God.” You want to honor
what’s authentic and earned while pushing into new territories.
How do you match the appropriate voice for a given story with
the content?  Different stories have diff