Ghosts Who Talk Too Much: George Saunders’s Humor, Heart, and the Gift of Uncertainty A Lunch Talk with Dr. Karen Frances McCarthy

<p> From the spectral chorus and chaos of <i>Lincoln in the Bardo</i> to the darkly comic tales of <i>CivilWarLand in Bad Decline</i>, this presentation will examine how Saunders combines humor, empathy, and experimental narrative to illuminate what it means to live—and sometimes linger—in the shadow of uncertainty. We'll explore how he inverts spectral tropes to create ghosts that are not haunting but haunted, complex, imaginative, and psychologically provocative, and who invite the contemporary reader to engage with meaning, connection, and compassion in fresh ways.</p><p><picture class="lw_image lw_image145563 lw_align_left"><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://events.nyu.edu/live/image/gid/77/width/198/height/263/145563_Picture1.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="https://events.nyu.edu/live/image/gid/77/width/198/height/263/145563_Picture1.rev.1780499322.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img width="198" height="263" alt="Karen" data-alt="Karen" data-caption="Karen" src="https://events.nyu.edu/live/image/gid/77/width/198/height/263/145563_Picture1.rev.1780499322.jpg" data-max-w="198" data-max-h="263" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></p><p> &#160;</p><p><a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/faculty-directory/21527-karen-frances-mccarthy.html">Dr. Karen Frances McCarthy</a> specializes in spectral and speculative fiction and its intersections with cultural, psychological, and religious narratives. She holds a doctorate in English literature from the University of Birmingham in the UK. She is the author of two books, including <i>Till Death Don't Us Part </i>(White Crow Books, 2020), a work of creative non-fiction focused on spectrality, and<i> The Re-enchanted Ghost in Contemporary American Fiction</i> (Routledge, 2026), which examines an emerging trend in spectrality and liminality within twenty-first century American fiction. She teaches at various institutions, including creative writing at Edinburgh's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Center and spectral and literature at NYU SPS including <a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/courses/LITR1-CE9967-american-tales-of-the-uncanny-from-washington-irving-to-georg.html">American Tales of the Uncanny: From Washington Irving to George Saunders</a>.</p>