‘Nobody could have convinced me that this was therapeutic.’ Sheila Heti on ketamine, DMT, and LSD therapy.
‘The only thing I retained from Grose’s lecture about Lacanian psychoanalysis was a comment about clothes.’
Akshi Singh on clothes, fantasy and Issey Miyake.
‘Everybody should love me like my mama and, if possible, even much more.’ Elfriede Jelinek on her relationship with her mother.
‘I noticed that in lobbying for Vallum Creek Meadows I felt a bit as if I were confessing to a sexual peculiarity which I hoped these two favorite women might indulge me in’ Fiction by Benjamin Kunkel.
‘I think there’s a death wish in psychoanalysis.’ Granta interviews Christopher Bollas about his childhood, the development of his psychoanalytic practice and whether “the true self” exists.
Granta 174: Therapy
Secondhand Smoke
Dushko Petrovich Córdova
‘In the real world, it’s a lonely business being into perfume.’
Dushko Petrovich Córdova on perfumery.
Whatever Creek Meadows
Benjamin Kunkel
‘I noticed that in lobbying for Vallum Creek Meadows I felt a bit as if I were confessing to a sexual peculiarity which I hoped these two favorite women might indulge me in’
Fiction by Benjamin Kunkel.
We Are Creatures Who Mourn
Jonathan Lear & Benjamin Y. Fong
‘The outcome of analysis isn’t meant to be some sort of independent product, some story I now have.’
Benjamin Y. Fong interviews Jonathan Lear on how philosophy and psychoanalysis intersect.
Online Series | Mark Up
Lol I’m trying to tell you how it feels for me
Harriet Armstrong
‘“lol” is a way of asking for something – attention, reassurance, care or even love – while pretending not to ask for anything.’
Harriet Armstrong on what we really mean when we punctuate our text messages with ‘lol’.
Connecting the Dots
Madeline Cash
‘My mother’s use of ellipses doesn’t reveal a pattern or convey a tone. She’ll “. . .” in good times and bad. Excited, pensive, disappointed or otherwise.’
Madeline Cash on the Boomer generation’s love of ellipses.
Today Is My Birthday
Christian Lorentzen
‘“To gift” is no gift to me.’
Christian Lorentzen on transitive verbs.
Breaking Point
Maggie Millner
‘Some line breaks coincide with the end of a sentence or phrase; others don’t.’
Maggie Millner on pauses, silences and choosing where to end the line.
X
Akshi Singh
‘The x was only really a kiss in context. It was a kiss depending on who sent it, and when. Otherwise it was affection, friendliness, and disguised aggression.’
Akshi Singh on language, letters, and when to leave a kiss.
Apotheosis of a Speck
Adam Mars-Jones
‘The punctuation family is a close-knit one, with barely half a dozen members, but there is an outlying tribe of more or less distant cousins.’
Adam Mars-Jones on lesser-known punctuations marks.
From the Archive
Head Above Water
Buchi Emecheta
‘Inside, I knew it was more complicated: I knew I was both – a “bush” girl and a civilized Christian.’
Buchi Emecheta on her childhood in Lagos.
The Black Sheep
Italo Calvino
‘And then one day – nobody knows how – an honest man appeared.’
Fiction by Italo Calvino
Shrinks
Edmund White
‘Self-doubt, which is a cousin to self-hatred, became my constant companion.’
Edmund White on psychology, spirituality and submission.
The Vegetarian
Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith
Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature
Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more ‘plant-like’ existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye’s decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism.
Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.
