Granta 134: No Man's Land

In her Introduction, Granta's editor and publisher Sigrid Rausing quotes the earliest Doomsday Book definition of "No Man's Land" as "parcels of land outside the London city walls," and she goes on to describe its later uses when it became associated with land disputes and executions, with war and with "marginal spaces and activities." This issue reflects just such a broad definition.

Rausing's background in anthropology, her work for Amnesty International, and her support for human rights organisations through the Sigrid Rausing Trust, all have clearly influenced this issue of Granta, so the pieces she has chosen to publish are not always comfortable or easy reading. Her broad interpretation of "no man's land," however, has allowed her to include work which ranges from Peter Pomerantsev's reportage from all sides of the Ukrainian/Russian conflict to David Rakoff's story about a woman's encounter with her schizophrenic brother. She also includes Lorenzo Meloni's evocative photographs of life and color in the grey, war-torn city of Kobane, and Matthew Welton's poems "in imitation of Thomas A. Clark"—a poet whose own poetry deals with the sparsely populated, lonely terrains of the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

As usual, the standard of work in Granta is excellent, there is a wealth of good and interesting reading, and some of the articles in this issue, together with many more varied pieces, are freely available at the Granta website.

 

---

Editor Note: Thinking about buying Granta 134 or another book today? Please click the book cover link above. As an Amazon Associate, Eclectica Magazine earns a small percentage of qualifying purchases made after a reader clicks through to Amazon using any of our book cover links. It's a painless way to contribute to our growth and success. Thanks for the help!