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Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #140
Granta 140: State of Mind
This issue of Granta explores the conscious self in an age when we are finally taking mental health seriously.
We know how the brain works, but do we understand the mind? In an age when we are finally taking mental health as seriously as physical health, this issue of Granta explores the conscious self: how it perceives, judges and lives in the world.
With new fiction, reportage, poetry, photography, and art addressing this topical issue.
We know how the brain works, but do we understand the mind? In an age when we are finally taking mental health as seriously as physical health, this issue of Granta explores the conscious self: how it perceives, judges and lives in the world.
With new fiction, reportage, poetry, photography, and art addressing this topical issue.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2017
4 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Sigrid Rausing
45 books52 followersSigrid Rausing is Editor and Publisher of Granta magazine and Publisher of Granta and Portobello Books. She is the author of History, Memory and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia: The End of a Collective Farm and Everything is Wonderful, which has been translated into four different languages.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 15, 2017
Excellent stuff!
I wanted to read this because of the piece of journalism on the French girl who livestreamed her suicide--unfortunately I couldn't tell the difference between what I read in here and what's already made available to read, by The Guardian, for free:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017...
I thought there would be more in the mag but there isn't. No mind: I found other cool stuff anyway :D
Joanna Hershon's story, "St Ivo", was awesome! Actual tears. Had to close the mag and look at the sky and wonder why for a bit. What might have influenced that, however, is that for 80% of it, I didn't realise it was a story, because Granta doesn't explicitly tell you if something is non-fiction or not? Or does it? I couldn't find it, ahaha! WHY NOT. It just said on the back, "New fiction by... Joanna Hershon" and so on. Weird.
The piece about the schizophrenic man was interesting also. Especially since I just went to London that weekend there and had to leave a cafe, cross the street and then later run away from more than one person talking to themselves, walking backwards, or begging--all in the same morning. I consider that common sense and not prejudice, though. Just googled "Killed by schizophrenic on bus" to find that one article I once read that made me nervous around such people--surprise surprise, there are loads of them.
You know who are the worst to tell about stuff like that? Men. (I know you're not supposed to talk like that but when the good ones are such a minority... I don't know.) Because they're like, "Well I've never heard of such a thing, and obviously nothing happened to you, so I think you are the mad one."
You'll cross the road and they'll go, "Maybe you crossing the road is the thing that's gonna set them off! Did you think about that?" Well, Jesus, better just stay on this side of the road and cross my fingers that I don't get stabbed.
Fucking idiots! Sometimes you want to get even just a lil' bit stabbed as if to prove something to idiots like that, but it wouldn't even work. You'd die in vain, so, better to just live frustrated. Yes, those are your only two options. You can eradicate prejudice, but the idiot lobby is far too powerful and will forever have us outnumbered, I fear.
And there are obvious parallels here to all the sexual harrassment scandals coming out also: "Praise the alpha! Oh! Alpha wants to see you! Little lady is blessed! Alpha assaulted you?! Are you sure? I mean, he NEVER assaulted me! Well the worst you could do now is piss him off, little lady! Did you think about that?"
Do people ever talk about idiot privilege?
I have to admit when I read Robert Coover and John Barth's latest, my reaction was, "How nice that those old men are still getting work!" And that's about all they got from me.
Still, Granta's worth checking out :) You can read some of their stories and stuff for free on their site to see if you like it.
I wanted to read this because of the piece of journalism on the French girl who livestreamed her suicide--unfortunately I couldn't tell the difference between what I read in here and what's already made available to read, by The Guardian, for free:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017...
I thought there would be more in the mag but there isn't. No mind: I found other cool stuff anyway :D
Joanna Hershon's story, "St Ivo", was awesome! Actual tears. Had to close the mag and look at the sky and wonder why for a bit. What might have influenced that, however, is that for 80% of it, I didn't realise it was a story, because Granta doesn't explicitly tell you if something is non-fiction or not? Or does it? I couldn't find it, ahaha! WHY NOT. It just said on the back, "New fiction by... Joanna Hershon" and so on. Weird.
The piece about the schizophrenic man was interesting also. Especially since I just went to London that weekend there and had to leave a cafe, cross the street and then later run away from more than one person talking to themselves, walking backwards, or begging--all in the same morning. I consider that common sense and not prejudice, though. Just googled "Killed by schizophrenic on bus" to find that one article I once read that made me nervous around such people--surprise surprise, there are loads of them.
You know who are the worst to tell about stuff like that? Men. (I know you're not supposed to talk like that but when the good ones are such a minority... I don't know.) Because they're like, "Well I've never heard of such a thing, and obviously nothing happened to you, so I think you are the mad one."
You'll cross the road and they'll go, "Maybe you crossing the road is the thing that's gonna set them off! Did you think about that?" Well, Jesus, better just stay on this side of the road and cross my fingers that I don't get stabbed.
Fucking idiots! Sometimes you want to get even just a lil' bit stabbed as if to prove something to idiots like that, but it wouldn't even work. You'd die in vain, so, better to just live frustrated. Yes, those are your only two options. You can eradicate prejudice, but the idiot lobby is far too powerful and will forever have us outnumbered, I fear.
And there are obvious parallels here to all the sexual harrassment scandals coming out also: "Praise the alpha! Oh! Alpha wants to see you! Little lady is blessed! Alpha assaulted you?! Are you sure? I mean, he NEVER assaulted me! Well the worst you could do now is piss him off, little lady! Did you think about that?"
Do people ever talk about idiot privilege?
I have to admit when I read Robert Coover and John Barth's latest, my reaction was, "How nice that those old men are still getting work!" And that's about all they got from me.
Still, Granta's worth checking out :) You can read some of their stories and stuff for free on their site to see if you like it.
August 2, 2017
A collection of fiction and non-fiction, of prose, poetry and photography, that focuses on the phrase "state of mind". It includes the dark meditation by Rana Dasgupta on the death of Oceane who committed suicide live on social media. It includes the hilarious description of Joe Dunthorne's participation in the 2016 Writer's World Cup (soccer). Penelope Lively considers what a person's book collection says about that person. Barry Lopez discusses how he faces his fears and persuades them to come with him because what we're about to see is greater than the thing you're running from. There are many other pieces included here, too.
A thought provoking collection.
A thought provoking collection.
Read
August 2, 2017I have a couple of friends who make chocolate. The best thing for me about their chocolate is that when I have a piece of their chocolate, it is wholly satisfying. I eat it, ponder its complex flavors and, in a while, maybe the next day, maybe in an hour or two, I can have another, and think then on the experience of that latest chocolate's particular flavors and texture. (There are others who might say the greatest thing about their chocolate is the amazing flavor combinations they meld together in chocolate bars, nuggets, and bonbons), It is an experience unlike eating a Snickers, Reese's, or Hershey's chocolate, which always leaves me wanting more.
Reading Granta 140 was like eating Tavernier Chocolate. Each piece of writing had it's own textures, and exposed a deeper truth. Each demanded, at its end, a moment, at least, for reflection. I didn't feel like I hurried from a story of lesser interest to the next, as yet unread, story. Each story was interesting, whether it was Rana Dasgupta's account of the first social media suicide, Jack Shenker's tale of his return to Egypt, Joanna Hershon or Tom Lee's stories of mundane, yet vividly drawn lives of artists in Brooklyn or middle-aged professionals in a housing estate.
140 features a number of short pieces entitled: State Of Mind. Each, whether Barry Lopez's contemplation of scuba diving in Antartica, Marcel Proust's letters to a neighbor, or Han Kang's thoughts on a sibling, dead before her own birth, reveal a state of mind, a course of thought naturally, about the topic at hand, but also stirring a consideration, an empathy, and insight for matters, perhaps far from what they dwelt on, but that were central to my own existence.
The photo essays, Salvage by Reynaldo Rivera, Imagined Memories by Francesca Todde, and Past Perfect by Jason Larkin all add to the theme, each in their way, presenting a reality or questioning the presentation of a reality. The photo by Don McCullin, accompanying the Charles Glass essay, is searing.
The other pieces I really enjoyed in this fully realized issue are Flash At Home by Robert Coover, Siri Hustvedt's "A Mingling", The Recall Of Herman Harcourt by Colin Grant, Cyprus United by Joe Dunthorne, Monster by Margo Jefferson and Ocean Vuong's poem, You Guys.
Reading Granta 140 was like eating Tavernier Chocolate. Each piece of writing had it's own textures, and exposed a deeper truth. Each demanded, at its end, a moment, at least, for reflection. I didn't feel like I hurried from a story of lesser interest to the next, as yet unread, story. Each story was interesting, whether it was Rana Dasgupta's account of the first social media suicide, Jack Shenker's tale of his return to Egypt, Joanna Hershon or Tom Lee's stories of mundane, yet vividly drawn lives of artists in Brooklyn or middle-aged professionals in a housing estate.
140 features a number of short pieces entitled: State Of Mind. Each, whether Barry Lopez's contemplation of scuba diving in Antartica, Marcel Proust's letters to a neighbor, or Han Kang's thoughts on a sibling, dead before her own birth, reveal a state of mind, a course of thought naturally, about the topic at hand, but also stirring a consideration, an empathy, and insight for matters, perhaps far from what they dwelt on, but that were central to my own existence.
The photo essays, Salvage by Reynaldo Rivera, Imagined Memories by Francesca Todde, and Past Perfect by Jason Larkin all add to the theme, each in their way, presenting a reality or questioning the presentation of a reality. The photo by Don McCullin, accompanying the Charles Glass essay, is searing.
The other pieces I really enjoyed in this fully realized issue are Flash At Home by Robert Coover, Siri Hustvedt's "A Mingling", The Recall Of Herman Harcourt by Colin Grant, Cyprus United by Joe Dunthorne, Monster by Margo Jefferson and Ocean Vuong's poem, You Guys.
August 21, 2017
Because my own state of mind has been so frayed lately, I took to this edition with hunger.
The usual gathering of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography yielded a sense of understanding for me, a wider scope on personal and public struggles with mind, body, politics, meaning and doubt.
I was most drawn to:
"Notes on a Suicide" by Rana Dasgupta - amazing evocation of the life and internetted death of Oceane, a young woman torn apart and yet needing to leave a trace
"Coming Home to the Counter-Revolution" by Jack Shenker - oh what mire in Cairo and beyond, what fear and trembling and forceful lying by those in power
"Flash at Home" by Robert Coover - just recently went tripping with Huck and I liked this mad dash with Flash and Buck Rogers and Dale Evans (!). Right tight with the satirical nail.
"Books Do Furnish A Room" by Penelope Lively - she did and they do, beautifully. A life in titles.
"Saint Ivo" by Joanna Hershon - How to write when the spirit doesn't move you anymore and figuring out why that's so. How to lose a child and try to "regain" her. This piece is just so harsh and real.
And the photographs of Francesca Todde and Reynaldo Rivera do what photography does best: rivet and remember and commemorate.
The usual gathering of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography yielded a sense of understanding for me, a wider scope on personal and public struggles with mind, body, politics, meaning and doubt.
I was most drawn to:
"Notes on a Suicide" by Rana Dasgupta - amazing evocation of the life and internetted death of Oceane, a young woman torn apart and yet needing to leave a trace
"Coming Home to the Counter-Revolution" by Jack Shenker - oh what mire in Cairo and beyond, what fear and trembling and forceful lying by those in power
"Flash at Home" by Robert Coover - just recently went tripping with Huck and I liked this mad dash with Flash and Buck Rogers and Dale Evans (!). Right tight with the satirical nail.
"Books Do Furnish A Room" by Penelope Lively - she did and they do, beautifully. A life in titles.
"Saint Ivo" by Joanna Hershon - How to write when the spirit doesn't move you anymore and figuring out why that's so. How to lose a child and try to "regain" her. This piece is just so harsh and real.
And the photographs of Francesca Todde and Reynaldo Rivera do what photography does best: rivet and remember and commemorate.
January 27, 2018
I have to admit to having been a little bit disappointed by my first experience of reading a Granta. I've heard a lot about it over the years, about how literary and interesting and how high the quality of writing was, but I found the same variable nature, the same level of impressiveness, here as I've found in other literary magazines.
Perhaps this theme ('State of Mind') lead to more insular contemplation (navel gazing) than usual. I did find the tone of some of the pieces rather pompous and boring, though. I couldn't see the point of the tiny Proust extract, the Barthes or the Ocean Vuong poem (but kudos to Granta for including him 6 months or so before he got the TS Eliot prize).
The short story St Ivo and the memoir of Egypt were my favourite pieces.
Perhaps this theme ('State of Mind') lead to more insular contemplation (navel gazing) than usual. I did find the tone of some of the pieces rather pompous and boring, though. I couldn't see the point of the tiny Proust extract, the Barthes or the Ocean Vuong poem (but kudos to Granta for including him 6 months or so before he got the TS Eliot prize).
The short story St Ivo and the memoir of Egypt were my favourite pieces.
September 22, 2018
I really enjoyed the experience of reading through this. The intellectual texture of the experience. Not sure why! Gonna read more issues!
Also the following ppl all have work in this and all have associations for me with one thing (WHICH YOU WILL NEVER KNOW), which was funny
ocean vuong
andrew solomon
Chris Kraus
Nuar Alsadir
Also the following ppl all have work in this and all have associations for me with one thing (WHICH YOU WILL NEVER KNOW), which was funny
ocean vuong
andrew solomon
Chris Kraus
Nuar Alsadir
February 20, 2024
A particularly good Granta with an unusually large number of contributors – some were invited to write a short reflection on the idea of state of mind. The first piece, by Rana Dasgupta is a stand-out tour de force.
And Lydia Davis, whose biography appears at the back along with all the authors, is absent from the book. I can think of more characteristic contribution than this!
And Lydia Davis, whose biography appears at the back along with all the authors, is absent from the book. I can think of more characteristic contribution than this!
October 30, 2017
Some stories are soo good, next time I will share my fav ones. Perfect story collections to keep yourself busy during the time you are spending at the public trasportation! All of them are easy to read 😉
June 12, 2018
A mixed bag, as I found some stories quite depressing, especially the non-fiction ones, but for the most part the stories were well-written and each story covers different elements of mental health and the vagaries of life.
August 22, 2017
Great series of short writing on the #stateofmind, so relevant to my current physical handicap.
November 23, 2017
This is a dark issue.
November 11, 2019
The opening piece, “Notes on a Suicide,” was excellent. After that it was a mixed bag.
May 30, 2024
One of the best editions of Granta. I will be holding on to this to read again and cherish.
October 20, 2025
Amazing to see how words and images can make the interior of the human psyche (intellect and emotion) a palpably manifested experience - the works in this volume of Granta do just that.
October 3, 2018
An overly thin entry in the Granta series, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The long format essays here - "Notes on a Suicide" and "Coming Home to the Counter-Revolution" are particularly engrossing. Colin Grant's "The Recall of Herman Harcourt" is lyrical and poignant.
For fiction, Joanna Hershon's "Saint Ivo" sucks you in, as does Tom Lee's "The Alarming Palsy. . .". Robert Coover's "Flash at Home" is a chuckle-filled bagatelle.
The long format essays here - "Notes on a Suicide" and "Coming Home to the Counter-Revolution" are particularly engrossing. Colin Grant's "The Recall of Herman Harcourt" is lyrical and poignant.
For fiction, Joanna Hershon's "Saint Ivo" sucks you in, as does Tom Lee's "The Alarming Palsy. . .". Robert Coover's "Flash at Home" is a chuckle-filled bagatelle.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews