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Granta Magazine is launching a viral arts project made entirely of words, built around its online archive which has just been rolled out.
The project is called Nostos Algos, with the Greek words drawing on the meanings ‘a homecoming’ and ‘pain, grief, distress’.
Granta said Nostos Algos was "a collective exercise in bringing the past into the present and making it part of a shared experience with fellow users and the imaginations of Granta’s famed writers".
Users post a description of a particular memory, which then appears in a live feed and will be matched to an extract from the online archive. Alongside subscriber's musings will appear words from Doris Lessing, Arthur Miller, Ryszard Kapuscinski and many other distinguished authors. The results can then be shared via email, Twitter or Facebook.
Nostos Algos was inspired by the themes of memory, identity, and cultural integration, which appear in the current issue of Granta, entitled Going Back (number 111).
The online archive was launched in mid-July at granta.com, enabling subscribers to read the early works of writers such as Salman Rushdie, Nick Hornby and Joyce Carol Oates, among others.
Editor John Freeman said: "No more hunting through charity shop bins, or stealing them from
your friends. wherever people are, they’ll be able to enjoy and discover the magazine’s fabulous 30-year breadth."
The online archive will be available by subscription only. For the first year, subscribers can get all 110 issues for the price of one (£12.99). To participate in Nostos Algos, for free, visit www.nostos-algos.com.