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← Back to all issuesGranta 3: The End of the English Novel
Autumn 1980
Is it the end of the English novel? Has it grown predictable and unadventurous? Granta 3 collects work from writers and critics which points to the fact that our terms have grown inadequate: it is the end of the English novel; but it is also the beginning – quite possibly an extremely important beginning – of British fiction.
From this Issue
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Southern Birds
Desmond Hogan
‘She was like a nun who wanted her body for herself but being generous gave it freely.’
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A Scream of Toys
Alan Sillitoe
‘Edie looked a long time at blue sky in a pool of water after rain before dipping her finger down for a taste.’
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Alice fell
Emma Tennant
‘Agony belonged to night and would take advantage of the union, increase the whirligig of pain.’
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Riddley Walker
Russell Hoban
‘Ther leader he wer a big black and red spottit dog he come forit a littl like he ben going to make a speach or some thing’.
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Invasion from Outsiders
Lorna Sage
‘It seems necessary to say at the outset that I find the English novel a problematic entity, difficult to be properly sensible about.’
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The Uneasy Middleground of British Fiction
Chris Bigsby
‘The English novel has for far too long been regarded as a cosily provincial’.
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An Irrelevant Parochialism
Frederick Bowers
‘What strikes an ex-patriate most about the contemporary British novel is its conformity, its traditional sameness, and its realistically rendered provincialism.’
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Taking Risks
James Gindin
‘Transatlantic literary critical lenses are no more immune from distortion than are any others.’
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God, He Was Good
J. K. Klavans
‘What’ve I ever done in my whole life that wasn’t painful anyway?’
