Judge it by its cover

Most anthologies suffer the problem of uneven quality. Compilations that are based on the judgments of others are bound to suffer the subjectivity of both judge and reader. In this issue of Granta, however, the asymmetry ranges between moderately good and frankly awful. This wide difference in quality is surprising, given that most of the writers here have actually learnt their trade. In his Introduction, Granta's editor Ian Jack says most of the writers represented here have attended creative writing schools, and writing appears to be emerging as a viable career choice for many. This, in fact, is one reason Granta decided to reduce the qualifying age for its definition of "young" from 40 to 35. Jack writes, "We reasoned that as people seem to be writing (and publishing) fiction sooner ""it's increasingly seen as a career choice by Americans in their early twenties, who attend universities to learn it""they have at least in theory a head start on their predecessors and should be getting better, quicker."

Institutionalising instruction in the creative arts is not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly appears to work in the visual arts. Some of India's most original and creative visual artists have emerged from the humble government art schools. Almost all dance forms, whether Indian or western, are formally taught. Music is a combination of the formal and informal. Only literature has been a wholly informal profession till recent decades and, on current evidence, instruction does not appear to have enhanced skill levels appreciably.

The problem, perhaps, is the heavier emphasis that is placed on financial viability rather than creativity. Rather than allowing creativity to find its market, publishing houses are trying to force-match authors to market demand. This is showing up in the mostly puerile fiction based on "managed" or editor-advised content emerging from global publishing houses. (Khaled Hossaini's debut novel The Kite Runner, perhaps, is the exception in this genre, though he has his fierce detractors). Though the writers in this issue don't fall in the managed genre they are, at best, a modest advertisement for America's schools of creative writing. Despite the range of subjects and the interesting variety in the authors' ethnic origins, the prose rarely rises to great heights""a good portion is meaningless and self-indulgent. Heavily rooted in the realism that distinguishes American literature, there is little sign of a fresh approach that might enhance a rich legacy.

The biggest virtue of this collection lies in the glimpse it offers of the sense of American identity, which, interestingly, is conspicuously at odds with the way the world sees America. This may be no coincidence. About a third of the contributors were born outside the US""in China, India, Russia and Thailand.

Among the pick of the pieces is "Where East Meets" West by Nell Freudenberger. This is a gently humorous and nicely nuanced account of the chic, self-conscious non-racism of liberal American youth and the unself-conscious racial curiousity of older white Americans. Also readable is Olga Grushin's "Exile", a sensitively written story of an exquisitely civilised Russian noble suffering the indignities of exile from Russia in Paris. Gabe Hudson's "Hard Core," a savagely ironic and compelling account of a Vietnamese GI in Iraq, is certainly worth a look-in. Akhil Sharma's "Mother and Son" starts off promisingly. Dara Horn's "Passover in New Orleans," an excerpt from a historical novel-in-progress, also suggests potential, at least in the old-fashioned art of story-telling.

On the other hand, "From the Diaries of Lenny Abramov" and "Room after Room" both take stream of consciousness to new heights of enigma. The best thing about the book is the cover design. It is a pastiche of the imagery of modern commercialism""which is probably an accurate representative of the publishing business today.

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GRANTA
BEST YOUNG AMERICAN NOVELISTS
NOW EVEN YOUNGER! - 2

Penguin
Price: £12.99; Pages: 352