Granta 129: Fate

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #129

by Sigrid Rausing (Editor)

What is fate, in a culture of free will and self-determination? Where do we project our doom, that ancient and evolving belief in predestination? In this issue of Granta, twenty-two writers meditate on fate in all its many forms.

Includes contributions by Anjan Sundaram, Andrea Stuart, Fatima Bhutto, Sam Coll, Joanna Kavenna, Joseph Roth, Michael Cunningham, and Will Self.

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Short Stories, Literature, Essays

280 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2014

About the author

Sigrid Rausing is Editor and Publisher of Granta magazine and Publisher of Granta and Portobello Books. She is the author of History, Memory and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia: The End of a Collective Farm and Everything is Wonderful, which has been translated into four different languages.

Reviews

[Liviu · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a great start with a fiction (actually sf-nal) piece by L. Erdrich about a near future in which corporations offer immortality (for a price and of a sort) and a woman must make a hard choice given her past which is revealed slowly and a non-fiction piece by M. Gevisser about the transformation of a Michigan teen girl into a boy which was very intriguing, the issues follows with shorter pieces that were generally ok but not something to remember (there was a longer piece by W. Self but i cannot stand his prose so that was a skip); also there was a short piece by J. Roth (the famous Jewish-Austrian writer) about the start of WW1 which I found somewhat in poor taste as it was written some 13 years after the Sarajevo assassination and bemoaned the destruction of Europe while that city was still standing untouched and given what happened some 6 decades and a half later, well I wouldn't have reprinted that...

overall, not as good as other issues but enough stuff to make it worthwhile still

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

l especially liked the piece by Kent Haruf, which was what drew me to this issue

[Ray Quirolgico · Rating 4 out of 5]

The scope of what could be collected under the title “Fate” is vast and deep and this issue definitely had that kind of range - sometimes sweeping and dramatic and sometimes intimate and personal.

[priyam]

read: books and roses by Helen Oyeyemi

[Adam Deverell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't remember ever skipping two writings in a Granta Magazine, but I did in this issue. In fact it wasn't until page 96 and the illustrations of Mexico's retablos that I found something that clicked. The previous stories were heavy handed, pretentious and unsubtle. Did anyone, at all, finish Will Self's facsimile in Key Stroke? And just how much patience did you need to finish Louise Erdrich's strange Domain?

"Fate" is a very open ended theme, and I never quite did feel there was a thread to follow throughout the book. But the stories did get better. "Blasphemy" by Fatima Bhutto was tense and tragic about the fall of a Christian in Pakistan. SJ Naude took me right into South Africa with a lone white completing nurse's training in "The Alphabet of Birds" and Tim Winton's non-fiction is as lyrical and gritty as his more famous works. And funnier.

Still, half a dozen out of 23 entries isn't a great hit rate for a magazine that usually scores much better.

[gillianmarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent issue, but overall the essays were a lot stronger than the fiction. I really enjoyed Mark Gevisser's piece on gender identity, and Andrea Stuart's memoir about her sexual awakening as a lesbian in the 80's and 90's was a perfect companion to it. It reminded me of why I love to read lit journals so much: you get such a variety of interesting perspectives in one issue.

As for the fiction, Cynthia Ozick's story of outcast-turned-oracle was a favorite, and Louise Erdrich's "Domain", speculative fiction about digitially preserving our memories for the afterlife was surprisingly compelling.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed Cynthia Ozick, the occasionally odd phrasings of Miranda July, the perspective of Joseph Roth and the poetry of Barbara Ras. So many of the readings were introductions to worlds which I knew little of, if anything at all:
Mark Gevisser
Andrea Stuart
Fatima Bhutto
Anjan Sundaram
Francisco Goldman
Tim Winton's piece on hospitals was engaging simply because, while I can see his point, my own view of hospitals, as a result of my own experiences with them, is so very different.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good piece by Mark Gevisser on transgender identity. Interesting because he is a gay man who came of age in the era of gay liberation and AIDS. Also like the piece by Andrea Stuart about the development of a lesbian identity. Kent Haruf's piece about becoming a writer; Tim Winton's piece on fear of hospitals (spot on); and Isabella Tree's search for the former goddess are worth a read. Guess I would have called this issue "Becoming" instead of "Fate."

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relatively interesting issue — the non-fiction pieces were overall much stronger than the fiction pieces. The standout was definitely Mark Gevisser's brilliantly-written essay on transgender/genderqueer identities — highly recommended for those seeking a better understanding. Wonderful and wholly insightful.

Personal favourites: 'Self-Made Man' (Mark Gevisser), 'A Hebrew Sibyl' (Cynthia Ozick), 'Tourist' (Andrea Stuart)

[Susan Emmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine edition, edited by Sigrid Rausing, that deals with fate in all its forms.
Especially liked Cynthia Ozick's "A Hebrew Sibyl" and Helen Oyeyemi's "Books and Roses."
There are just so many fine pieces and no time right now to review each.
Isabella Tree, Andrea Stuart, SJ Naude, Adam Fitzgerald - and so many others.
What governs us? Ourselves or the stars or both and other?

[T P Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best of issues. The theme leads to a jumble of pieces relating to religion, injury and genders issues. There's a nice reflective piece by Tim Winton on his experiences of hospital. Apart from that, there was nothing else that caused me to linger.

[Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

"self made man" was a great essay. i didn't enjoy the rest as much

[LaDawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only one piece in this entire edition wasn't fabulous!

[Emmapettitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patchy as usual with Grantas (but always worth a read). Some great some, some I didn't take to.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fate in all its interpretations. As with a all Granta works, this is an a good mixture of fiction, poetry, photography and journalism.