Granta Forty-Six

This edition of Granta focusing on 'Crime' takes a unique approach, incorporating contemporary examples of short "crime fiction" with two real-life accounts of murders committed in Glasgow, as told by the murderers themselves. It seems this structure encourages reflexion on our personal reactions to the nature of crime and the extent to which our perception of what is real and what is fiction will color our tolerance of graphic descriptions. While we see violence depicted in film and in fiction constantly, to an extent that many of us feel largely desensitized to its "shock" effects, it is interesting to read these real-life autobiographical accounts embedded in the series of "crime fiction" pieces. Personally, I found myself shocked and horrified as I listened to the real-life murderers tell their all too graphic stories, while I breezed through the less threatening fictional descriptions of similar events. I think the experience which comes by reading these two types of stories, juxtaposed, is what makes GRANTA 46: CRIME worthwhile.