“Granta – 139”

A little while ago I took out a subscription for “Granta”. It’s a great way to be encouraged every quarter to read something you might otherwise not. In #139, the theme was “Best of Young American Novelists (3)” – a series they produce about every 10 years or so. There’s also a “Best of” for “Young British”. The role of honour for the first of these, printed in 1983, is quite something: Martin Amis, Pat Barker, Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Graham Swift to name a few. I’ve read books by most of those (my contemporaries!), and even something from the most recent “Young American Novelists” issue – maybe I’m ‘hipper’ than I think..!

It occurred to me that maybe there should be a “Best of New Old Writers” series, for the mature among us. You could potentially argue that young writers tend to be more experimental with language (do they have to be so in order to find a unique voice?), and pick at contemporary issues: at least 2 in issue #139 refer (negatively) to a certain recent election in the US. And maybe you could argue that the ‘Oldies’ write from a richer life experience, perhaps having opted out from a writing ‘career’ earlier on, or simply having been bush-wacked by Life. Fingers crossed that it’s never too late!

Two sides of the same coin, maybe. Anyway, looking forward to #140…

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