Granta 54: The Best of Young American Novelists

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #54

by Ian Jack (Editor), Sherman Alexie (Contributor), Madison Smartt Bell (Contributor)

At Granta's request, eighteen established American novelists of an older generation deliberated their choice among the new. The final judging panel — including Robert Stone, Anne Tyler and Tobias Wolff — identified twenty writers under forty of particular achievement and promise.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Ian 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.

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an edition of the British literary magazine Granta, #54, in which a group of authors ("Judges") selected 20 American Authors to include with the only rule being that the author was a US citizen under forty who had published one novel or short story collection by May 31, 1995. The editor describes some of the process and laments a number of authors who were not included but probably should have been but this was a group effort. Included here are 20 stories, some of which are short stories and most of which are excerpts from novels and works in progress. I read this in between and as a break while I read other things. The stories are presented alphabetically by author, and the authors are: Sherman Alexie, Madison Smartt Bell, Ethan Canin, Edwidge Danticat, Tom Drury, Tony Early, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, David Guterson, David Hayes, Allen Kurzweil, Elizabeth McCracken, Lorrie Moore, Fae Myenne Ng, Robert O' Connor, Chris Offutt, Stewart O'Nan, Mona Simpson, Melanie Rae Thon, and Kate Wheeler.

An interesting portrait gallery of all 20 authors appears in the middle of the book. Each story is prefaced with a brief profile of the author.

To start, the Sherman Alexie excerpt put me off - did not care for the style at all although I like what he was writing. The Madison Smartt Bell excerpt really caught my attention and took me to the time of Toussaint Louverture. I really liked the story by Ethan Canin - at the time in 1996 it was described as an excerpt from an upcoming novel, his second. My library does not have it but I will keep my eyes open for his books going forward - I want to give him another try.

I failed to "take notes" on most of them. I can't say I was disappointed other than a few stories, notably the opener by Sherman Alexie, but the collection did tweak my interest in many of these authors, and also gave me a sample of ones that I will probably pass. Several of the authors I was already familiar with but most were brand new to me. Ones I plan to read more of include Tom Drury and Ethan Canin. 3 1/2 stars

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection that's deeply situated in 1996 and the Northeast United States, Granta 58 pulls together some incredible voices in the world of American Prose at the end of the twentieth century. Most notable to me were Alexei, Franzen, Eugenides, Drury, Guterson, Moore, and O’Nan, and my favorite piece was easily Elizabeth McCracken's The Giant of Cape Cod. I liked that many of the pieces were from places I am intimately familiar with – including extensive geographic references to Massachusetts, Cape Cod, New York, and others, and I even cackled at a direct reference to channel 38's The Movie Loft. The collection has a distinctly 1996 feel to it, and I am not sure I can entirely pinpoint why. Still, mired in its era, this issue of Granta is an exciting reminder of the early careers of these talented novelists who all went on to incredible careers. The introduction was also notable to me, as Ian Jack writes about the editorial process and waffling over including the authors the panel decided to include, while others such as David Foster Wallace and Donna Tartt were left out. Funny to read in hindsight, as they constitute two of my favorite contemporary authors. Granta 58 is great.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave this 3 stars - but don't let that fool you. This is a great book to pick up and get leads from. I read it during one of my lit courses in college and it brought me to reading J. Eugenides for instance. I think E. McCracken also had a piece in here which lead me to her novels and reminds me I ought to add them to my list here on GoodReads. I am a big fan of McCracken. I have long wanted to read David Haynes after his excerpt in this book....and once I get the interlibrary loan thing down, I will ;)

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book introduced me to many authors I went on to explore with pleasure in later years. In fact, it may have introduced me to Granta itself, another wonderful discovery.