George Saunders’s Vigil uses ghosts to probe climate denial and mortality

George Saunders’s new novel, Vigil, is a ghost story in which an oil tycoon who spent a lifetime covering up scientific evidence for climate change is visited on his deathbed by a host of spirits. Like his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, Vigil forces its central figure to grapple with legacy and mortality.

The book is told from the perspective of Jill Blaine, the ghost of a 22-year-old newlywed killed in a car bomb who entered the mind of her killer. Jill’s guiding idea, which she calls 'elevation', holds that lives are shaped by forces beyond individual control; she asks the tycoon KJ Boone, 'Who else could you have been but exactly who you are?' Saunders says he has not decided whether she is right and that good fiction should aim to ask questions rather than provide answers.

Saunders, 67, says ghosts can feel more truthful because they allow a story to move beyond the narrow present, and he describes death as a growing preoccupation. He recounts a near-death plane scare about 25 years ago that sharpened his awareness of mortality. Best known for his short stories, he won a MacArthur grant in 2006 and describes writing as a 'sacramental act' that expands empathy.

Saunders says he began Vigil because he was curious whether people who devoted decades to covering up climate science had regrets 'given the weather'. He is undecided how he will address politics on a February tour and says he does not want to be a peacemaker for 'this regime'.

Key Topics

Culture, George Saunders, Vigil Novel, Kj Boone, Jill Blaine, Climate Denial