Granta 146: The Politics of Feeling

Granta 146 is guest-edited by Devorah Baum and Josh Appignanesi. We're living through hysterical times. Rage, resentment, shame, guilt and paranoia are everywhere surfacing, as is the intemperate adoration or hatred of popular but divisive public figures. Political discourse suffers when people seem to trust only what they feel and can no longer be swayed by reason or facts.

If extreme feelings are a contagion within the political cultures of today, so too is the spread of a kind of affectlessness, as if we're starting to resemble the very technologies that threaten to replace us.

Featuring vital new fiction, non-fiction, photography and poetry from across the globe, this issue is all about how our feelings make our politics, and how our politics make us feel.

Adam Phillips, in conversation, analyses politics in the consulting room David Baddiel probes the outrage of life online Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor witnesses devastation Anouchka Grose on becoming a social justice warrior Peter Pomerantsev unearths his data profile to conduct sentiment analysis Poppy Sebag-Montefiore on China's public sense of touch Fabián Martínez Siccardi on growing up in Patagonia Margie Orford explores shame in South Africa Josh Cohen inspects his own apathy Hisham Matar reflects on Joseph Conrad and Edward Said Hanif Kureishi on Keith Johnstone and Keith Jarrett William Davies on affective politics Chloe Aridjis revisits the wild nights of her teenage years in Mexico City PLUS
FICTION: Benjamin Markovits, Olga Tokarczuk and Joff Winterhart
POETRY: Alissa Quart and Nick Laird
PHOTOGRAPHY: Diana Matar, introduced by Max Houghton