Granta 167: Extraction

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #167

by Thomas Meaney

The UK's most prestigious literary quarterly brings you prize-winning new fiction, reportage, memoir, poetry and photography from debut writers and established voices.'The Emperor Concerto' by Julie Hecht, first published in Granta 158: In the Family, has been selected for inclusion in the Pushcart Prize Anthology XLVIII. 'Small Girl Landlady' by Adachioma Ezeano has been selected by Shayla Lawz for inclusion in the 2023 Best of the Net Anthology.'Me, Rory, and Aurora' by Jonas Eika, translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg, was a winner of the 2023 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction.Two of the three Forward Prizes for Poetry were won by Granta 'Up Late' by Nick Laird and Amnion by Stephanie Sy-Quia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Anthologies

320 pages, Paperback

Published April 25, 2023

Reviews

[Rosemary Standeven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of stories and reportage, mostly relating in some way to ‘extraction’. I enjoyed all the chapters except one ‘Nettle Tea’, which I found really gross (too many bodily fluid exudations).
The articles I found most interesting were the non-fiction reports ‘Wagner in Africa’, ‘Drone Wars for Mexico’s Gold Mountain’, ‘As They Laid Down Their Cables’ (about Israeli energy politics).
But, for me the best – because I’d known nothing about it previously – was ‘The Last Freeminers of England’. Freeminers of the Forest of Dean are small scale traditional independent coal (or iron) miners. Commercial mines have shut down, now only freemines remain. Freeminers have to have been born in the Hundred of Saint Briavels – Act of 1838 – and have worked a year and a day in the mines. There are no maternity hospital in the Hundred, so very few new freeminers.
Many years ago, I had a hard copy subscription to Granta, but let it lapse, not sure why. But, recently I came upon a cheap ‘introductory’ e-subscription, and decided to reacquaint myself with Granta. When the offer runs out – this time I will continue to subscribe.
Articles:

Wagner in Africa - James Pogue
Prairie Dogs - Benjamin Kunkel
Working the Soil and the Cloud - Danny Franzreb & Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
Where the Language Changes - Bathsheba Demuth
Monkey Army - Eka Kurniawan
The Last Freeminers of England - William Atkins & Tereza Červeňová
Drone Wars for Mexico’s Gold Mountains - Anjan Sundaram
The True Depth of a Cave - Rachel Kushner
Death by GPS - Salvatore Vitale
Nettle Tea - Camilla Grudova
The Accursed Mountains - Christian Lorentzen (visit to a dentist)
As They Laid Down Their Cables - Laleh Khalili
The Darién Gap - Carlos Fonseca
On Boredom - Nuar Alsadir

[Paul Dembina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a pretty good issue with a high proportion of interesting pieces.

Not sure about the final article which attempted a psychoanalytic approach to boredom

[Filip Wijnings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nog nooit zo genoten van een magazine

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, this Granta is a bit of a mixed bag. The Last Freeminers of England was an interesting insight into the peculiar Forest of Dean

[anoushka · Rating 4 out of 5]

the short stories were SO good i can't believe the editor of n+1 is a political economist

[David Shepherd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally good as always but the new psychoanalysis section is terrible. Pseudoscience like that doesn't belong in a magazine of reportage and high quality fiction.

[Claudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Nettle Tea” by Camilla Grudova is one of the most alarming pieces I’ve ever read, in any language.

[Neil Kenealy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now under a new editor Thomas Meaney. The theme of this issue is extraction, and the term is used very broadly. There’s an account of historical extraction of natural resources along the Yukon river which led to a massacre in 1851. The history of energy in Israel is unravelled by Laleh Khalili. Bitcoin extraction is recounted in photographs. There’s an open mine in Java which is guarded by a man who is engaged in a low-level war with the local monkeys who were there long before the miners. There’s a piece of fiction set in Albania where the extraction is dental. A dangerous investigative exploration in the Central African Republic tries to get to the bottom of the Wagner group there. The last freeminers of England is an essay and set of photos on a group of people exploring the many leftover mines under the ground in Britain. The variety of places and writing styles is the hallmark of Granta and this issue is a great example of that.

[Chris]

This issue has some amazing stories. Essays which, when I got to the end, I didn’t want to continue to the next piece, but rather just sit digesting all that I had just read. Bathsheba Demuth’s piece on exploring 19th century Russian trade in the Yukon, Rachel Kushner’s depiction of a cave in France, even the political reporting of the cartels in Mexico, or the supply lines in Israel, all seem to express that whatever, whenever, we take, we leave behind something essential. Our search for meaning, understanding, truth will always be incomplete.
I read this in the Granta app while I wait for my physical copy to be delivered. The online edition doesn’t present the illustrations and photography as richly as the physical copy. I’m eager to reread this when the post delivers it.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last three stories were real highlights. The reporting was interesting & informative, especially around CAR & freemining; but ultimately insubstantial. "Prairie Dogs" & "Monkey Army" are both conceptually interesting, but dull in practice (the latter is also a bit inartful in its plotting). I got next to nothing out of the photography, especially the second photo essay.

I'm not sure how to feel about the essay on boredom & psychoanalysis. It's less than forceful in its argumentation—relying on authority with only two slim examples in countertransference to back it up. It's probably right, & I found the bit on hope particularly interesting, but it's too low-grade a presentation to know without working on the problem myself.

[Ben Breen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights here are mostly fiction - Benjamin Kunkel's dreamlike Prairie Dogs; Eka Kurniawan's violent Monkey Army, Camilla Grudova's captivating Nettle Tea - but also some interesting pieces in British freeminers, and Russia's Wagner group paramilitary in Africa.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

In terms of enjoyment, this rated very low, its subject mostly one of greed and manipulation; of acquisition of land and resources with no regard for damage done and the necessary adoption of alien behaviour to keep things going. An ugly, depressing reading experience.

[Ray Quirolgico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stressing the connection between the earth and ourselves the writing in this issue felt emotionally compelling, sometimes in surprising ways, even if the collection left me wanting much more natural history reporting.

[Johan Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een van de betere nummers, vooral
"Prairie Dogs" van Benjamin Kunkel
"The True Depth of a Cave" van Rachel Kushner

[T P Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great issue. The subject results in a hodge podge of loosely related stories and news related pieces. Some nice shorter pieces but the volume doesn't cohere.

[olivia]

Great nonfiction! Less than great short stories, with the exception of ‘Nettle Tea’ which was delightful.

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this issue, the non fiction is excellent, the fiction not so much.

[Vladimir Ghinculov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granta, the magazine of new writing as it is subtitled, dedicates its 167th issue (spring 2024), Extraction, to mining. The subject may seem boring or dry, but I assure you, it is not. From the battles between locals and cartels in Mexico for a gold mine to bitcoin mining, there are many facets of extraction. My favorite text was the short story Nettle Tea by Camilla Grudova.

[Seb · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Extraction’ covers the concept in question in a number of metaphorical and physical forms. I enjoyed the range of this edition, especially the reporting on the CAR and the writing on the Darien Gap, a sort of fiction-non-fiction hybrid. This Grants was probably my first introduction to the style of the short story writing which is vaguely non-fiction or metric tonal. I enjoyed it nontheless