Granta 165

From Lower Saxony to Leipzig, the carwash to the planetarium, the special Deutschland issue of Granta comprises the most promising developments of contemporary German literature. In Leif Randt’s “Allegro Pastel,” the smooth consciousness of a Merkel-era young professional’s flight into a lifestyle is examined with a clinical scalpel. The issue includes stories by Yoko Tawada, Judith Hermann, Shida Bayzar, and Clemens Meyer. The issue features bursts of fiction and reflection from Alexander Kluge, an essay by Fredric Jameson on Neo Rauch, Jürgen Habermas on the future of Europe, Peter Richter on the murder that explains the horror-architecture of Potsdamer Platz, Adrian Daub on the dark history of German car culture, Ryan Ruby on Berlin’s last utopian moment, Michael Hofmann on the Germany he never wished to return to, Nell Zink on the Germany she cannot quit, Peter Kuras on German humor, Lutz Seiler on serving in the People’s Army, Lauren Oyler on the projections of generations of Americans who have come to Germany with an idea of culture in their heads that they only subsequently learned had reached them like the light of a distant star that long ago collapsed, and a conversation about anti-anti-Semitism between George Prochnik, Emily Dische-Becker and Eyal Weizman. Also included: Peter Handke’s notebooks. Poetry from Elfriede Czurda and Frederik Seidel. Photography by Martin Roemers (with an introduction by the poet Durs Grünbein); Ilyes Griyeb (with an introduction by Imogen West-Knights) and Elena Helfrecht (with an introduction by Hanna Engelmeier). Cover by Muhammad Salah.