One of the joys of being a subscriber to Granta is seeing, with each issue, what theme the literary journal is going to tackle this time. Themed issues began in 1979, under editor Bill Buford, and they have been both eclectic ("What Young Men Do") and frank ("Losers").
The themes continued when John Freeman took over a few years back,and the most frankly-themed issue of all ("Sex") was a best-seller. And now we have "The F Word," which is not what you might think it is.
The newest issue of Granta tackles feminism, and it plunges right into the topic with pieces by Francine Prose, A.S. Byatt, and Edwidge Danticat. Eudory Welty is in here, too. So is Louise Erdrich.
"The Ojibwe Week," Erdrich's offering, is from her novel "The Antelope's Wife," which, according to the contributors' notes,is forthcoming in a newly revised edition.
The folks at Granta have created three short films, inspired by three of the pieces. One film, inspired by Helen Simpson's "Night Thoughts," is posted on the Granta website. I can't link to it here because this is a family newspaper and the film is mildly -- well, imagine what you might be thinking about when you're lying awake at 3 a.m. and there you have it, darkness and all.
