‘He stood, rubbing his arms. How long had he slept? Not knowing the time was one of the torments of Pentonville.’
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‘He stood, rubbing his arms. How long had he slept? Not knowing the time was one of the torments of Pentonville.’
‘He stood, rubbing his arms. How long had he slept? Not knowing the time was one of the torments of Pentonville.’
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘We meet at various points in the great swathes of the past that neither of us were alive to witness.’
Allen Bratton on a daytrip to a castle with his older boyfriend.
‘Listening to three white poets, whom I suspect are academics, talk about the state of poetry.’
Oluwaseun Olayiwola eavesdrops on an older generation.
‘I’d been dubious about his company at first.’
Sarah Moss on watching Shakespeare with her twelve-year-old son.
‘She didn’t trust us because, to her, tenants were like children.’
Kate Zambreno on negotiating with her older landlady.
‘A moment now swallowed in embarrassment, I asked a question only a young person might ask an older one.’
Lynne Tillman on trying to understand what makes a generation.
Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Peru in 1936. His most recent books in English include a novel, The Bad Girl, and Touchstones, a collection of essays on literature, art and politics.
More about the author →Edith Grossman has been the recipient of numerous awards and honours for her work. She has translated works from Miguel de Cervantes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Luis de Góngora, Antonio Muñoz Molina and many others. She lives in Manhattan and has two sons, both of whom are musicians.
More about the translator →‘For Fataumata, and others like her, dying tragically is dying naturally.’
‘A democracy, I said, is driven by the electoral process, and in elections there are victories and defeats.’
‘I lost my left ear from a bite. . .Through the thin slit that remains I can hear the sounds of the world.’
‘Europeans want a fictitious Latin America on to which they can project their own desires. They want a Latin America which satisfies a longing for political engagement that is not possible in their own countries.’
‘They spoke naturally - without any sense of guilt - and were intrigued and surprised that people had come from so far away, and that there was so much excitement, because of one little incident.’
‘Poetry must always find new ways to sing, must be fresh, must surprise, must take us by the heart with its song, its imagery, its syntax. But it can still be simple, grammatical, and speak plain English.’
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