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Introduction
Thomas Meaney
‘The Generations issue of Granta offers different age cohorts a chance for mutual inspection.’
Thomas Meaney introduces the issue.
Ecce Senex: Stephen James Joyce
James Scudamore
‘He was “a Joyce, not a Joycean”, yet considered himself the supreme arbiter of what constituted valuable Joyce scholarship. At the same time, he admitted that he rarely read anything in full.’
James Scudamore on trying to ghostwrite Stephen James Joyce's memoir.
The Millennial Mind
Anton Jäger
‘Millennials were more than willing to bargain by riot.’
Anton Jäger evaluates the millennial generation.
Proper Country
Ralf Webb
‘It was by necessity, not choice.’
Ralf Webb on returning to the West Country.
Lifetimes of the Soviet Union
Yuri Slezkine
‘Bolshevism, like most millenarian movements, proved a one-generation phenomenon.’
Yuri Slezkine on Soviet history and the generational arc of revolution.
Niamey Nights
Rahmane Idrissa
‘The first time I heard of generations, they were likened to the loops of a ribbon.’
Rahmane Idrissa on photography and music in the Sahel.
The Life, Old Age and Death of a Woman of the People
Didier Eribon
‘How little one knows, really, about one’s parents.’
Memoir by Didier Eribon translated by Michael Lucey.
The Trouble with Old Men
Samuel Moyn
‘The choicest parts of the world’s richest cities, according to demographers, are dense with aged residents.’
Samuel Moyn on gerontocracy.
Five O’Clock Somewhere
Gary Indiana
‘It’s when things fail to return to normal, that finally you get it: this is normal.’
Gary Indiana on growing older.
From Zanzibar to Marbach
Abdulrazak Gurnah
‘The tragedies inflicted on the people of East Africa as a result of European rivalries are belittled and forgotten.’
Abdulrazak Gurnah on German East Africa.
What the Germans Left Behind
Anna Parker
‘My Czech family’s house stands on a geopolitical rift: it occupies a place the political storms sweep through, uprooting everything that is settled.’
An essay by Anna Parker.
Internal Affairs
Andrea Brady
‘The burden in law on the pregnant person is to show that they are at risk, in need; they must ask, and hope, rather than demand.’
Memoir by Andrea Brady.
