‘You referred to a comrade as ‘Mister’. That's offensive.’
Between 1981 and 1984, Teresa Toranska, a pro-Solidarity journalist, interviewed seven aged and, for the most part, disgraced Communist leaders who had been instrumental in establishing the first communist government in Poland under Stalin’s supervision. In her interviews, Toranska has, in effect,…
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‘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.
