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← Back to all issuesGranta 166: Generations
Winter 2024
From the public pools of New York to Niamey in the 1960s, a carol concert in Oslo to the lycées of Reims, the winter edition of Granta reflects on a much derided yet indispensable topic: generations.
In this issue, Gary Indiana reckons with the humiliations of old age, Sheila Heti and Phyllis Rose discuss the merits of marriage, James Scudamore recounts a sketchy encounter with James Joyce’s grandson, and Andrew O’Hagan stages a generational skirmish in the BBC studios.
We have new stories from Zoe Dubno, Lillian Fishman, Vigdis Hjorth (translated by Charlotte Barslund), Karan Mahajan, Sam Sax, Brandon Taylor and Nico Walker, and memoir and essays from Didier Eribon, Rahmane Idrissa, Anton Jäger, Samuel Moyn, Yuri Slezkine and Ralf Webb.
Plus, poetry by Jana Prikryl, Eve Esfandiari-Denney, Nam Le and K Patrick.
And photography by Jack Latham, introduced by Joanna Biggs, and Kalpesh Lathigra, introduced by Guy Gunaratne.
Cover artwork © Thomas Struth
From this Issue
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Repetition
Vigdis Hjorth
‘The people she longed to be understood by, the ones at whom her anxious hope was pinned, were her parents.’
Fiction by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund.
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The Sensitivity Reader
Andrew O’Hagan
‘Human nature is not improved by concealment, especially when it comes to the past.’
A short story by Andrew O’Hagan.
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A Good First Marriage is Luck
Sheila Heti & Phyllis Rose
‘Life is so difficult. It may take more than one creature to sustain one life.’
Sheila Heti in conversation with Phyllis Rose.
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You’re a Londoner
Kalpesh Lathigra & Guy Gunaratne
‘For you, an image makes sight sacrosanct. It wasn’t always like that.’
Guy Gunaratne introduces photography by Kalpesh Lathigra.
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Stalin, Lenin, Robespierre
Brandon Taylor
‘He tried to think about what sort of person he wanted to be in this world and how he might bring that about.’
Fiction by Brandon Taylor.
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Proper Country
Ralf Webb
‘It was by necessity, not choice.’
Ralf Webb on returning to the West Country.
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The Attaché’s Wife
Karan Mahajan
“I’m from here. I grew up here. In fact, that’s why the government invited me back for this work.”
Short fiction by Karan Mahajan.
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Isabel
Lillian Fishman
‘Diana saw that Lucy’s appeal was in the nostalgia of her looks: Hers was a teen beauty, at home nowhere more than in a miniskirt.’
Fiction by Lillian Fishman.
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Shooting Stars in Your Black Hair
Joanna Biggs & Jack Latham
‘To be in a hair salon is to be bubble-wrapped against the world – or at least that’s the fantasy.’
Joanna Biggs on salons, intimacy and the photography of Jack Latham.
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Ricks & Hern
Nico Walker
‘Naturally, no partnership is perfect. Certain pieces will be at odds – you’ll have that.’
Fiction by Nico Walker.
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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.
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David Attenborough
K Patrick
‘Motherhood is this chapter, / we all love a mother, / disastrous as it is.’
Poetry by K Patrick.
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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.
