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Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #125
Granta 125: After the War
How long is the shadow of a battle, an explosion, a revolution? What stories arise in the wake of devastation? This issue explores the complicated aftermath and legacy of conflict. Lindsey Hilsum returns to Rwanda two decades after witnessing the beginning of genocide. Patrick French writes of a great-uncle whose heroism in World War I left behind a 'saturating cult of remembrance'. From air-raid drills in Paul Auster's America to a calf with a broken foot in Herta Muller's Rumania, this is how we live after the war. With new writing by Aminatta Forna, Romesh Gunesekera, A.L. Kennedy, Hari Kunzru, Yiyun Li, Thomas McGuane, poetry by Jean-Paul de Dadelsen, Ange Mlinko and Rowan Ricardo Phillips and photography by Dave Heath and Justin Jin.
245 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 24, 2013
3 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
John Freeman
55 books286 followersNote: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Freeman is an award-winning writer and book critic who has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Freeman won the 2007 James Patterson Pageturner Award for his work as the president of the National Book Critics Circle, and was the editor of Granta from 2009 to 2013. He lives in New York City, where he teaches at NYU and edits a new literary biannual called Freeman's.
John Freeman is an award-winning writer and book critic who has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Freeman won the 2007 James Patterson Pageturner Award for his work as the president of the National Book Critics Circle, and was the editor of Granta from 2009 to 2013. He lives in New York City, where he teaches at NYU and edits a new literary biannual called Freeman's.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 28, 2013
One of the finest issues of Granta, I think.
Poetry, photography, all sorts of sitings and sightings and rememberings.
I continue to love the range of places and voices in Granta after so many years of subscribing.
From Wyoming to Sri Lanka to Ireland to Romania to the Russian Arctic to Chernobyl to Rwanda to San Francisco...voices of inquiry and confession and articulate, clear statement - I was blown away.
Herta Muller's "Always the Same Snow and Always the Same Uncle" is amazing.
As are McGuane's "Crow Fair," AL Kennedy's "Late in Life," Yiyun Li's "From Dream to Dream," and Patrick French's "After the War."
Granta is a most important publication.
John Freeman editing did well.
Witnessing genocide, looking back years later at war, the horrific price paid by those innocent, the will to live "after" - and so much about the little things that keep people going, to who knows where.
Why? Why so torn are we/have we been? Why so destructive? Why so numb and numbing?
Why so often hopeful?
Poetry, photography, all sorts of sitings and sightings and rememberings.
I continue to love the range of places and voices in Granta after so many years of subscribing.
From Wyoming to Sri Lanka to Ireland to Romania to the Russian Arctic to Chernobyl to Rwanda to San Francisco...voices of inquiry and confession and articulate, clear statement - I was blown away.
Herta Muller's "Always the Same Snow and Always the Same Uncle" is amazing.
As are McGuane's "Crow Fair," AL Kennedy's "Late in Life," Yiyun Li's "From Dream to Dream," and Patrick French's "After the War."
Granta is a most important publication.
John Freeman editing did well.
Witnessing genocide, looking back years later at war, the horrific price paid by those innocent, the will to live "after" - and so much about the little things that keep people going, to who knows where.
Why? Why so torn are we/have we been? Why so destructive? Why so numb and numbing?
Why so often hopeful?
August 17, 2018
A excellent start: a deep, cutting essay on Rwanda that really taught me a lot. It was beautiful. Overall, the book never really recovered from this peak. It traveled the world, which I really appreciated, seeing Sri Lanka, Iran, Mons, Iran, Pripyat, San Francisco, Germany, etc.. GREAT photos. But the stories I didn't draw too much from in terms of plot or thesis. I enjoyed pieces like "Late in Life" by A.L. Kennedy for their revelation of character, but others fell flat without a similar supporting thingamagig. The variety of perspective on civilian's lives after wartime was great, and this was Freeman's final issue, but I think still I'll be giving this a 7/10. Cost on $6.50 at Wallace Books.
February 15, 2014
My first time reading an issue from this London-based literary magazine. Enjoyed these short stories and essays, most of which are probably extracts from soon to be published books. The handful of poems mostly went right by me.
The best for me were:
- Aminatte Forma's 1979 - an essay on being a foreign national in Iran during the revolution.
- Paul Auster's You Remember the Plaines - a third person summary of his life, I think. It's listed as nonfiction, and is from his Nov 2013 publication titled Report from the Interiot. This is the first I have read of Auster, and I hope to read more.
- Thomas McGuane's Crow Fair - A terrific short story about a mother who changes as she becomes more senile, and some uncomfortable secrets come out. Told from one of her son's perspectives. A lot going on here.
Other highlights for me were:
- Lindsey Hilsum's essay on Rwanda, entitled The Rainy Season
- I was intrigued by Ange Mlinko's poem, Revelations, even if I didn't quite get it. (She is a University of Houston professor)
- Yiyun Li's complicated short story narrated by a Chinese-American who just failed at attempted suicide, entitled From Dream to Dream. It's possibly from a forthcoming novel, titled Kinder Than Solitude
- Hari Kunzru's essay on visiting Chernobyl, entitled Stalkers (The title derives from a video game, based on a novel?, based on another novel?, based on the Chernobyl incident)
The best for me were:
- Aminatte Forma's 1979 - an essay on being a foreign national in Iran during the revolution.
- Paul Auster's You Remember the Plaines - a third person summary of his life, I think. It's listed as nonfiction, and is from his Nov 2013 publication titled Report from the Interiot. This is the first I have read of Auster, and I hope to read more.
- Thomas McGuane's Crow Fair - A terrific short story about a mother who changes as she becomes more senile, and some uncomfortable secrets come out. Told from one of her son's perspectives. A lot going on here.
Other highlights for me were:
- Lindsey Hilsum's essay on Rwanda, entitled The Rainy Season
- I was intrigued by Ange Mlinko's poem, Revelations, even if I didn't quite get it. (She is a University of Houston professor)
- Yiyun Li's complicated short story narrated by a Chinese-American who just failed at attempted suicide, entitled From Dream to Dream. It's possibly from a forthcoming novel, titled Kinder Than Solitude
- Hari Kunzru's essay on visiting Chernobyl, entitled Stalkers (The title derives from a video game, based on a novel?, based on another novel?, based on the Chernobyl incident)
June 3, 2014
I always read the entire issue of Granta no matter what. And, I think this one was one of the better issues of late. Really liked the story by Yiyan Li. The recollection of one young girl about the start of the Iranian Revolution also peaked my attention; I was just a little older than her at that time so reading about her experiences of being there was interesting. Also was intrigued by Hari Kunzru's piece on Chernobyl tourism. I recall some fear from myself and my friends when we learned of the accident there. Would radiation reach the east coast of the US? etc. So reading about the new tourism at the site created a wholly different type of reaction. Don't think I want to visit myself, however.
November 11, 2013
As usual, the writing is really good. I particularly enjoyed Thomas McGuane's story, which was quite unlike the others in this collection. This issue had themes that dovetailed tightly with the book I had read (Topol's The Devil's Workshop)just prior to picking up this Granta, and then coincided with a couple of movies I saw this week (Von Trotta's Hannah Arendt, Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing). It made for a sobering week.
August 29, 2016
My first time reading Granta, I'll definitely look out for other editions and reread some of the stories in the future. A varied collection of writing on survival, recovery and remembrance. I found particularly interesting the pieces on disaster tourism in Chernobyl, tensions following the Rwandan genocide and the tough livelihoods in North West Russia, above the Arctic circle. Would definitely recommend.
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November 29, 2013Another great issue!
January 16, 2014
Eye-opening but depressing.
May 13, 2014
The opening essay, 1979, and Paul Auster's short story are all particularly good. The rest of the issue is solid; the only dud is the last story, which is listless.
July 6, 2014
'Zone of Absolute Discomfort', 'Always the Same Snow and Always the Same Uncle', and 'You Remember the Planes' were the best pieces. Others didn't seem to fit in the war genre.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews