Today it is usual—especially among those who have never faced conscription—to describe national service as time wasted, even an offence against civil liberties in some sinister way.
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‘Today it is usual—especially among those who have never faced conscription—to describe national service as time wasted, even an offence against civil liberties in some sinister way.’
Today it is usual—especially among those who have never faced conscription—to describe national service as time wasted, even an offence against civil liberties in some sinister way.
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘I alone know a running stream
that is recovery partly and dim sweat
of a day-fever’
A poem by Rowan Evans.
‘Humour is a thread we hang onto. It punctures through the fog of guilt.’
Momtaza Mehri in conversation with Warsan Shire.
‘Something shifted in me that night. A small voice in my head said, maybe you can make a way for yourself as a poet here, too.’
Mary Jean Chan in conversation with Andrew McMillan.
‘There was to be an exhibition. There were lots of pictures like his, apparently – of waiters, pastry cooks, valets, bellboys.’
An essay by Jason Allen-Paisant from Granta 159: What Do You See?
‘I have started to see that nothing is itself’
A poem by Jason Allen-Paisant from Granta 154: I’ve Been Away for a While.
Brian Thompson was born in Lambeth, London in 1935. Since 1973 he has written for radio and television, and worked as a documentary filmmaker. His second volume of memoirs, Clever Girl: A Sentimental Education, was published by Atlantic Books in 2007.
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‘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.
‘A should probably write that it hit uz like a smack in the guts, or the red mist cem down or sumet like that, but in all honesty, a can just remember feelen upset.’
New fiction by Shaun Wilson.
‘It sounds like a stand-up comedy routine, but it’s true: I moved to Germany to get away from attractive men.’
Nell Zink on German men.
‘On 6 April 1981, I walked into the District Conscription Office, thereby obeying the very first command of my time as a soldier.’
Memoir from Lutz Seiler, translated by Martyn Crucefix.
‘Parents should not have to bury their children. I will come to you, she whispers.’
Fiction by Himali McInnes.
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