Granta 168

Granta's summer issue is devoted to fictions of the 'other'.
'Significant other' calls up the anodyne invitation from a host who wishes to
strip away presumption. But we insist it is a fertile concept. Some significant
others we know for much of our lives; others are meteoric: we may see them only
once. Fiction includes J.M. Coetzee's story, 'The Museum Guard, ' Victor
Heringer's 'L gia, ' and "Armance" by Fleur Jaeggy. Introducing new
fiction from Sophie Collins, Kevin Brazil, and Alexandra Tanner. Non-fiction features Mary Gaitskill's 'The Pneuma Method', James
Pogue on the mines of Mauritania, and Susan Pedersen on paranormal love in the
Balfour family. Christian Lorentzen appraises Daniel Sinykin's Big Fiction.
Snigdah Poonam follows a teenager who makes a pilgrimage to Ayodhya, where
the BJP's Hindu nationalists have built their dream temple of Ram. Poetry by Najwan Darwish, Zo Hitzig, Tamara Nassar and Bernadette Van-Huy. Plus photography by Rosalind Fox Solomon (introduced by Lynne Tillman), Jesse Glazzard (introduced by Anthony Vahni Capildeo) and Debmalya Ray Choudhuri (introduced by John-Baptiste Oduor).

Cover art by Simon Casson.