Granta has been described by the Daily Telegraph as "the most
impressive literary magazine of its time", and it really does live
up to that billing. The calibre of writers they publish is very
high; authors as highly thought of and successful as Jeanette
Winterson, Don DeLillo, Angela Carter and Zadie Smith have all had
their work in Granta.
Their current issue, which is out this month, has the theme Exit
Strategies and includes, excitingly, a new poem from Adrienne Rich.
Rich is a US feminist and poet as well as an essayist, and famously
wrote the essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,
which I remember finding hugely impressive when I first read it at
university. She is, in short, a bit of a legend.
The poem she has in this issue of Granta is called Endpapers.
It's a bit sad and meditative, with some lovely imagery right from
the outset: 'If the road's a frayed ribbon strung through dunes'. I
also enjoyed this bit:
The signature to a life requires
the search for a method
rejection of posturing
Another piece in this issue that might be of interest is Jacob
Newberry's memoir Summer. It's a piece on the theme of coming out,
and there is a lot in it that many of us will probably
recognise:
My friends at the time loved me, but I turned into an ornament.
When one girl heard I was gay, her face lit up. She asked: Will
you help me decorate my place?
Readers who enjoy a beautifully-written short story will be
pleased to know that Granta 118: Exit Strategies also includes new
stories by Alice Munro and Anne Tyler, both of whom are
acknowledged masters of the genre. It really is a great issue.
Visit the Granta
website
Granta 118 is on sale now, £12.99
