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Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #68
Granta 68: Love Stories
This issue of Granta is dedicated to love, or more often the lack of it, the loss of it, and the search for it. It includes stories about sibling rivalry, about rediscovering parental love, and about the end of marriage and enduring friendship.
256 pages, Paperback
First published December 13, 1999
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About the author
Ian Jack
139 books10 followersIan Jack is a British journalist and writer who has edited the Independent on Sunday and the literary magazine Granta and now writes regularly for The Guardian.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 3, 2024
I don't torment myself with thoughts of you. There is nothing so special about this story, there are many such, of men who say 'I'll call you' and then fall silent. No need to bring politics, religion, history, into it. Holiday romance, I can say: I'm old enought to know better.
from Habibi by Ruth Gershon
A somewhat anomalous discovery, amongst the airport thrillers, in the books-left-behind-at-the-beach section of my hotel, this issue of Granta, from Winter 1999, came with some rather headline-grabbing names.
The pride of place was given by the editors to a story by Raymond Carver, but contributors include WG Sebald (tr. Michael Hulse), Orhan Pamuk (tr. Erdag M. Göknar), Lydia Davis, Aleksandar Hemon and David Malouf.
However, suspect this was a much more impactful issue of the magazine at the time than it is read 23 years later.
The Carver piece was one of two discovered in his papers in Summer 1999, a year after his death, but was a disappointly conventional story, if nicely crafted. It reads like the sort of thing MFA graduates churn out which, to be fair to the author, is likely because MFA students are taught to write like Carter.
The Sebald piece is as brilliantly haunting as his writing almost always is - but is an extract from Vertigo (the translation of the 1990 novel Schwindel. Gefühle) which was to be published shortly after Granta 68 appeared: reading a sneak preview of a forthcoming book from one of the world's great writers would have been an exciting privilege at the time (particularly in those pre Netgalley days) but reading an extract from a book one read over 20 years previously is rather less so.
Pamuk's piece is a piece of family history, about the narrator and his brother squabbling over trading cards while their father and mother are separating, which was published at the time between the English translations of his novels The New Life and the then forthcoming My Name is Crimson (sic). But this is another which while original at the time, I have read previously, as it was retranslated by Maureen Freely in the collection Other Colours published in 2008 after his Nobel Prize win.
The more political pieces, by authors with which I am unfamiliar actually resonate more in 2023: Jonathan Kaplan’s harrowing account of medical training from the perspective of a white student doctor in apartheid era South Africa and, the highlight of the collection, as a number of review concur, Habibi by Ruth Gershon, a “holiday romance” (as per the quote which opens my review) between a Jewish woman, on a rare visit to Israel, and her Arab landlord.
Overall this edition would have been a 4 star read in 1999 but 3 stars (2.5) now.
from Habibi by Ruth Gershon
A somewhat anomalous discovery, amongst the airport thrillers, in the books-left-behind-at-the-beach section of my hotel, this issue of Granta, from Winter 1999, came with some rather headline-grabbing names.
The pride of place was given by the editors to a story by Raymond Carver, but contributors include WG Sebald (tr. Michael Hulse), Orhan Pamuk (tr. Erdag M. Göknar), Lydia Davis, Aleksandar Hemon and David Malouf.
However, suspect this was a much more impactful issue of the magazine at the time than it is read 23 years later.
The Carver piece was one of two discovered in his papers in Summer 1999, a year after his death, but was a disappointly conventional story, if nicely crafted. It reads like the sort of thing MFA graduates churn out which, to be fair to the author, is likely because MFA students are taught to write like Carter.
The Sebald piece is as brilliantly haunting as his writing almost always is - but is an extract from Vertigo (the translation of the 1990 novel Schwindel. Gefühle) which was to be published shortly after Granta 68 appeared: reading a sneak preview of a forthcoming book from one of the world's great writers would have been an exciting privilege at the time (particularly in those pre Netgalley days) but reading an extract from a book one read over 20 years previously is rather less so.
Pamuk's piece is a piece of family history, about the narrator and his brother squabbling over trading cards while their father and mother are separating, which was published at the time between the English translations of his novels The New Life and the then forthcoming My Name is Crimson (sic). But this is another which while original at the time, I have read previously, as it was retranslated by Maureen Freely in the collection Other Colours published in 2008 after his Nobel Prize win.
The more political pieces, by authors with which I am unfamiliar actually resonate more in 2023: Jonathan Kaplan’s harrowing account of medical training from the perspective of a white student doctor in apartheid era South Africa and, the highlight of the collection, as a number of review concur, Habibi by Ruth Gershon, a “holiday romance” (as per the quote which opens my review) between a Jewish woman, on a rare visit to Israel, and her Arab landlord.
Overall this edition would have been a 4 star read in 1999 but 3 stars (2.5) now.
September 12, 2024
Four stars for the Raymond Carver story, it's wonderful. Kind of perfect.
I love that the story is accompanied by a Danny Lyon photograph of a young woman looking despondent, standing beside a desert highway.
Cool to see a Lydia Davis story and early Aleksandar Hemon, along with a W.G. Sebald excerpt. Nothing else really grabbed me. I haven't picked up Granta before, so it's cool to see this copy from 1999 (found it in the free library by my house). Debating taking a knife to the Carver story and saving it for a future chapbook of stories I love that I found in the wild.
I love that the story is accompanied by a Danny Lyon photograph of a young woman looking despondent, standing beside a desert highway.
Cool to see a Lydia Davis story and early Aleksandar Hemon, along with a W.G. Sebald excerpt. Nothing else really grabbed me. I haven't picked up Granta before, so it's cool to see this copy from 1999 (found it in the free library by my house). Debating taking a knife to the Carver story and saving it for a future chapbook of stories I love that I found in the wild.
January 1, 2024
Exactly how I’d expect a random collection of short stories to go
April 23, 2022
I first noticed Granta Magazines in the 8th grade at Rishi Valley, when we were allowed to only look through the senior library, and only in special circumstances, were we allowed to borrow books from there. There it was - the Granta Collection bookshelf, in all its splendid, splendid glory. Someone had donated their entire set to the school - close to a 100 issues. This experience is the only reason I would claim to believe in love at first sight.
Come 9th grade and the curious and exciting world of Senior School, I was drawn back to this bookshelf. I became a Granta whore. I read perhaps 80 of those 100 issues over the course of the next two years in Rishi Valley. The length of the stories was perfect; too much is too much and too little is too little. The best part was, NO ONE other than me in school read Granta Magazines, so I always had this entire host of a 100 books to choose from, and was allowed to take more than 4 at a time. It truly was a love story.
My memories of my years at boarding school are now characterized by which Granta Mag I was reading at the time, and I wouldn't have it any other way. This collection of books, and particularly this specific issue: Granta 68 - Love Stories (I was teased for reading this haha) is very close to my heart. One specific photographic 'essay', if you may, titled 'Now and Then' (or Then and Now'?) was just pictures of people, 30 years or so apart, with their stories. I was in love with the photographs, noticed every little detail about that entire essay, because you see, we had no access to the internet in boarding school and this essay more than made up for it.
Come 9th grade and the curious and exciting world of Senior School, I was drawn back to this bookshelf. I became a Granta whore. I read perhaps 80 of those 100 issues over the course of the next two years in Rishi Valley. The length of the stories was perfect; too much is too much and too little is too little. The best part was, NO ONE other than me in school read Granta Magazines, so I always had this entire host of a 100 books to choose from, and was allowed to take more than 4 at a time. It truly was a love story.
My memories of my years at boarding school are now characterized by which Granta Mag I was reading at the time, and I wouldn't have it any other way. This collection of books, and particularly this specific issue: Granta 68 - Love Stories (I was teased for reading this haha) is very close to my heart. One specific photographic 'essay', if you may, titled 'Now and Then' (or Then and Now'?) was just pictures of people, 30 years or so apart, with their stories. I was in love with the photographs, noticed every little detail about that entire essay, because you see, we had no access to the internet in boarding school and this essay more than made up for it.
August 3, 2023
Engaging short stories, the most memorable being 'Habibi' by Ruth Gershon and 'Uncle Ed' by Keith Fleming, and the least being 'Going Abroad' by W.G. Sebald.
August 8, 2024
Always enjoy an issue of Granta and a Raymond Carver story
January 30, 2008
I used to pick these up at used bookstores, but this one in particular was exceptional among the excellent writing you'd expect from Granta.
One story in particular, "Habibi," written by Ruth Gershon was one of the most thoughtful, beautiful and honest things I've ever read about love and loss. I guess I've experienced a lot of loss in my own life... so it really spoke to me.
There's also a lovely little piece from Raymond Carver, "Call me if you need me."
One story in particular, "Habibi," written by Ruth Gershon was one of the most thoughtful, beautiful and honest things I've ever read about love and loss. I guess I've experienced a lot of loss in my own life... so it really spoke to me.
There's also a lovely little piece from Raymond Carver, "Call me if you need me."
June 20, 2013
Best edition of Granta ever.
Then and now: Photos and stories of people 25 years apart
Ray Carver, need I say more?
Habibi: I don't know if this was fiction or memoir but it was an outstanding love story
Asking for it: Completely relevant for the current debates on sexual assault.
I only hated one story which is pretty good for Granta.
Then and now: Photos and stories of people 25 years apart
Ray Carver, need I say more?
Habibi: I don't know if this was fiction or memoir but it was an outstanding love story
Asking for it: Completely relevant for the current debates on sexual assault.
I only hated one story which is pretty good for Granta.
Read
April 28, 2011This was beautiful. It had everyone from Carver to Sebald and there's so much to pick up in each selection.
July 29, 2013
The writing was horrible and the stories were boring. I didn't even bother finishing it. The only semi-interesting thing was the photo essay.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews