Granta 30: New Europe

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #30

by Bill Buford (Editor)

The year 1989, annus mirabilis, was the most important year in Europe since the end of World War Two. After 1989, Europe changed irreversibly, for better or worse. This special issue of Granta focuses on this crucial moment and projects itself into the possible future outcomes.

Genres: Essays, Short Stories, Nonfiction

251 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1990

About the author

William Holmes Buford is an American author and journalist. He is the author of the books Among the Thugs and Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. Buford was previously the fiction editor for The New Yorker, where he is still on staff. For sixteen years, he was the editor of Granta, which he relaunched in 1979. He is also credited with coining the term "dirty realism".

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thirtieth Granta volume focuses exclusively on the disruptions that took place in Europe at the end of the 1980s, when spring was in the air, so to speak, for democratic changes. Gorbachev (remember him?) was the Russian man-of-the-moment, reminding us that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The title of the book, NEW EUROPE, is most appropriate although it's doubtful anyone foresaw just how 'new' it would become.

The failure of Marx's vision has created the need for another vision, not for a rejection of all visions. What remains today is the idea of responsibility, which works against the loneliness and indifference of an individual living in the belly of a whale.

Milosz's vision of a utopia did not conquer his dreaded fear of a consumer-based society. Wasn't it John Hancock who said something akin to 'most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor'?

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Book Season = Spring (new hope)

[Marina Burity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diversos textos escritos no final de 1989 sobre todas as mudanças que aconteciam na Europa Oriental com as políticas de Gorbachov, a queda do muro de Berlim e o enfraquecimento dos governos comunistas nas repúblicas soviéticas. Escritos no calor do momento, apresentam um recorte desse período turbulento, onde todos estavam surpresos, perdidos, esperançosos. Algumas conjecturas foram bem acertadas, outras nem tanto. Achei interessante o tom de decepção de alguns autores, ao comentar que por trás dessas mudanças estava uma simples vontade de consumismo, ao invés de algo mais elevado. Também uma tristeza pela perda da esperança de uma alternativa ao capitalismo. Muito interessante como registro histórico para quem se interessa pelo assunto.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Ape · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was published in 1990. So it's now 20 years old. It's a collection of short stories, articles, photograph series and even a short play about New Europe - the Communist countries in the East opening, up to the west and democracy coming into these countries. So it is very much of the era; maybe things have changed, maybe they haven't. It was an interesting enough read - perhaps not something you'd want to sit down and read cover to cover in one go (I certainly didn't); but it was good to dibble into over a couple of months. Some of the pieces were quite heavy going/political thought etc which were a little much for me. But there were some interesting stories in here, I actually enjoyed the play (about some Russian officials in one of the little communist countries - never said which - having just heard that "Himself" has annouced he's opening Russia up to democracy and they're panicking over what they're going to say about their stance in a press conference in half an hour); and the photo series were very good, although grim. The poverty some of these people were (are?) living in - wooden shacks with sloppy mud tracks for roads make up the villages; the locals looking a lot older than they probably are, teeth missing etc.