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Lincoln in the Bardo
- 128 statements
- 24 feature instances
- 1 referencing feature instances
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Lincoln in the Bardo | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo is a novel written by George Saunders and released February 14, 2017. After a long career comprising exclusively short stories and novellas, it is his first full novel. Abraham Lincoln's son Willie dies and finds himself in the titular "bardo", an intermediate plane between death and the next life that is supposed to be temporary, but where people with unresolved issues and untold secrets linger, often for years. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_21d70919 | type |
Crapsack World | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_21d70919 | comment |
Crapsack World: The bardo, an intermediate afterlife in which inhabitants are haunted by demons and their own regrets. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_237569e4 | type |
Ironic Hell | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_237569e4 | comment |
Ironic Hell: Although it's more purgatory than Hell, souls in the bardo take on a shape that reflects their personalities and deeds from when they were alive. For example, Hans Vollman forever sports a giant erection because he died hours before he was going to have sex with his wife, and Jane Ellis is haunted by three glowing orbs that remind her of her three daughters. | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_237569e4 | featureApplicability |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_237569e4 | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_3c9a1e4a | type |
Purgatory and Limbo | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_3c9a1e4a | comment |
Purgatory and Limbo: The "bardo", namely the Buddhist equivalent of Limbo, although as written in the book it's closer to the Christian idea of Limbo. That's where Willie goes. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_3c9a1e4a | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_3f70415 | type |
Because Destiny Says So | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_3f70415 | comment |
Because Destiny Says So: How the demons who work to encase Willie in a granite carapace feel about their fates. They passively accept that they always had the capacity to do the horrible things they did in life and that their entire lives were set up to lead up to their horrible acts, and now just want to do their jobs without resistance. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_40cc0c7e | type |
Bittersweet Ending | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_40cc0c7e | comment |
Bittersweet Ending: Willie and most of the other named spirits in the bardo accept their fate and pass on, including Elise Traynor, who Vollman and Bevins had failed to help earlier. Thomas Havens also manages to escape the cemetery and leave it with Lincoln. However, the president will never recover from Willie's death, and there's still the horrors of the Civil War and its aftermath to come, not to mention Lincoln's eventual assassination. | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_40cc0c7e | featureApplicability |
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Lincoln in the Bardo | hasFeature |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_40cc0c7e | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_4b316d47 | type |
Break the Cutie | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_4b316d47 | comment |
Break the Cutie: The dismal nature of the bardo begins to affect Willie's sunny, gentlemanly disposition and make him lose hope. | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_4b316d47 | featureApplicability |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_504e271f | type |
But Thou Must! | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_504e271f | comment |
But Thou Must!: Double subversion. The Reverend Everly Thomas, faced with an unspeakably horrific fate that he has no idea what he did (or didn't do) to earn, runs away from it. However, he is warned that because he fled, his punishment will be even worse upon his return, and that all who reside in the bardo do so temporarily and must eventually face their ultimate judgment. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_66cdb21b | type |
Gag Penis | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_66cdb21b | comment |
Gag Penis: Hans Vollman possesses a rather large member. It's because he died before being able to consummate his marriage, and he thus is eternally sexually frustrated while in the bardo. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_66cdb21b | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_6b05b601 | type |
Jerkass Has a Point | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_6b05b601 | comment |
Jerkass Has a Point: The Barons are crude, bitter, and hostile, and much of their comments are lashing out at others around them or their children for not visiting. However, they are among the only white souls in the cemetery to be (comparatively) friendly with Elson. Betsy also has something of a Heel Realization towards the end of the novel that allows her and her husband to pass on. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_6cc39b20 | type |
Puppeteer Parasite | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_6cc39b20 | comment |
Puppeteer Parasite: Played with. Hans and Roger think they can do this, but others argue their successes as anecdotal or coincidental. The people of the bardo can enter the bodies both of the living and each other, but their influence on them is minimal and they don't do them any harm, and the people of the bardo absorb the knowledge, emotions, and motives of the people they enter. This becomes the catalyst for a number of major epiphanies, particularly toward the end of the book. The influence on the living (if any) is very simple and limited: Hans and Roger fail to directly force Lincoln to return to Willy's tomb, but (probably) manage to remind Lincoln of the tomb's forgotten padlock in his trouser pocket. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_6ee10e0 | type |
My Greatest Failure | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_6ee10e0 | comment |
My Greatest Failure: Within the bardo itself, Hans, Roger, and the Reverend have lasting guilt about not doing more to help Ellie Traynor acclimate and pass through. The Reverend actually doesn't know what his is—only that it must have been really bad. He never figures it out, but eventually accepts that there is no point in delaying his inevitable fate. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_76f0d7a5 | type |
Historical Fiction | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_76f0d7a5 | comment |
Historical Fiction: Insofar as it takes place during the Civil War and Abraham and Willie Lincoln were real people. Aside from that... | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_7bbb95df | type |
Something for Everyone | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_7bbb95df | comment |
Something for Everyone: Most of the demons that try to tempt people into leaving the bardo manifest to their tormentors as close relatives or lovers. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_838366f2 | type |
Failure Knight | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_838366f2 | comment |
Failure Knight: Hans, Roger, and the Reverend want to help Willie leave the bardo because they know from past experience with their failure to help Ellie Traynor that children are particularly ill-suited to extended stays there. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_86b34ecf | type |
"Leave Your Quest" Test | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_86b34ecf | comment |
"Leave Your Quest" Test: Essentially what the demons subject the inhabitants of the bardo to. Inhabitants of the bardo are occasionally bombarded by demons that try to tempt them into proceeding to the next plane without resolving the issues that cause them to linger in the current plane. And boy, do they put on the pressure. | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_86b34ecf | featureApplicability |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_8fe6b348 | type |
Sir Swears-a-Lot | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_8fe6b348 | comment |
Sir Swearsalot: Eddie and Betsy Baron. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_999b994b | type |
Dead to Begin With | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_999b994b | comment |
Dead to Begin With: Everyone in the bardo, though no one except the Reverend realizes it. Some toy with the idea, but reject it, thinking their recovery imminent. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_a04e64a4 | type |
InvoluntaryShapeshifter | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_a04e64a4 | comment |
Involuntary Shapeshifter: Many people in the bardo will change shape or acquire new extremities when experiencing extreme or volatile emotions; Roger Bevins III, for example, grows multiple hands, eyes, ears, and noses when consumed by reverie. | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_a04e64a4 | featureApplicability |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_a27c0c2c | type |
Artistic License – Religion | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_a27c0c2c | comment |
Artistic License – Religion: Deliberately invoked. Though the bardo is a Tibetan Buddhist concept, it is followed by a Christian judgment phase, and also features Egyptian elements. Saunders says he did this to avoid being "too literal". | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_a27c0c2c | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_b5ac90ac | type |
"Groundhog Day" Loop | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_b5ac90ac | comment |
"Groundhog Day" Loop: It's implied that Lieutenant Cecil Stone and Elson Farwell will continue to fight forever—Stone consumed by his hatred of black people, Farwell by his desire for vengeance on whites. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_d72929ed | type |
Afterlife Antechamber | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_d72929ed | comment |
Afterlife Antechamber: The whole bardo is basically the Antechamber and the demons are the entrance to what is beyond. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_e4d079c1 | type |
Greek Chorus | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_e4d079c1 | comment |
Greek Chorus: Hans, Roger, and the Reverend Everly Thomas, mainly, with occasional interjections from others. | |
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Lincoln in the Bardo / int_ea8168f | type |
Crossover Cosmology | |
Lincoln in the Bardo / int_ea8168f | comment |
Crossover Cosmology: The bardo is a Buddhist concept, but this afterlife also features the Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell as well as elements from Ancient Egyptian mythology. | |
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