In Granta 75: Brief Encounters, the Irish poet Richard Murphy recalls his meetings with remarkable men, including W.H. Auden, J. R. Ackerley, and Theodore Roethke ("Why are you always praising Robert Lowell? I'm as mad as he is!"); Michael Mewshaw at last runs into his hero, Anthony Burgess; and Norman Lewis anatomizes his short, confusing, and terrifying career as an amateur spy in 1930s Arabia. The issue also features outstanding new fiction by...