{"id":108118,"date":"2017-02-23T23:30:56","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T04:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=108118"},"modified":"2017-02-23T18:24:35","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T23:24:35","slug":"the-decline-and-fall-of-whist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Decline and Fall of Whist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s late, and you\u2019re still awake. Allow us to help with\u00a0Sleep Aid<\/a>, a series devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain. Tonight\u2019s prescription: a chapter from\u00a0<\/em>The Decline and Fall of Whist<\/a>,\u00a0an 1884 book by John Petch Hewby.<\/em><\/p>\n

Though Mathews (circa<\/em>\u00a0A.D.\u00a01800) in two short sentences laid down the true and only principle of discarding: \u201cIf weak in trumps, keep guard on your adversaries\u2019 suits; if strong, throw away from them,\u201d fifty years afterwards it was discovered by the \u201clittle school\u201d that \u201cthe old system of discarding was just this\u2014when not able to follow suit, let your first discard be from your weakest suit.\u201d Rough on poor Mathews! but the absent are always wrong.<\/p>\n

However, by a process of evolution, to the first step of which no exception can be taken, we are next told\u2014(a<\/em>) \u201cWhen you see from the fall of the cards that there is no probability of bringing in your own or your partner\u2019s long suit discard originally from your best protected suit.\u201d \u201cYou must play a defensive game.\u201d\u2014Cavendish.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Then, as the evolution proceeds, and we come to (b<\/em>), we catch the first glimpse of the woody fibre, \u201cfor the sake of a short and easily remembered rule,\u201d it is the fashion to say, \u201cdiscard originally from your strong suit when the adversaries lead trumps, but this aphorism does not truly express the conditions.\u201d (It does not indeed; far from it! for the adversaries may lead trumps and the strength may turn out on the other side; and why, under any circumstances, currency should be given to an erroneous fashion is a question I have repeatedly asked in vain), and here the pupils rush in, with that zeal which outruns discretion, overpower the master and cut the Gordian Knot with (c<\/em>)\u00a0strongest<\/em>. Fourthly, I am informed whenever I take my walks abroad in Whist circles, (d<\/em>) that with trumps declared against me I must not only discard from my strongest suit, but by that discard point out to my partner\u2014and I presume my adversaries\u2014the\u00a0suit I wish led, and we are all on our backs on the wood pavement.<\/p>\n

Is this a defensive game? Surely it is pedantry run mad! Why am I, in these frightful circumstances, fighting for dear life, and breathing with the greatest difficulty, to disclose my vital parts to a powerful and remorseless enemy? Where am I to get a suit from that I wish led? Why am I to be debarred from using my common sense\u2014if I have any\u2014and holding on to everything in obedience to my old friend Mathews and Cavendish on Whist, for both of whom I have the highest respect? If by good luck I do hold a very strong suit, I used to be able to point out that fact by discarding the head of it; now I am told \u201cyou must not do that; it is not\u00a0the game<\/em>\u201d\u2014whatever the game may be; \u201cit shows the adversary too much;\u201d so that I am in this absurd dilemma\u2014if I have a really strong suit, I am to keep it dark; if I have a suit in which I hope to make a trick by remaining very\u00a0quiet, I am to invite my partner to put me under the harrow by making me third player.\u00a0O tempora! O mores!<\/em><\/p>\n

Bad in itself, and ensnaring to others, this outrageous latter-day discard is cowardly to a degree; for while it does no particular injury to the player with a strong hand, it knocks down and jumps upon the weak vessel.<\/p>\n

What am I to do with a suit in which I hold absolutely nothing, say the two, three, four and five? Did the doctrinaires never hear of such a suit? One would imagine not. Am I to discard from king, queen and another, or from knave to four, in order to keep four cards like that? How about retaining every card of a powerful suit, regardless where the trumps may be, knowing that unless it can be brought in somehow or other, the game is gone? When I am compelled to discard from a weak five suit, is that an order to my partner to lead in a singly or doubly guarded king?<\/p>\n

If these difficulties\u2014and there are numbers of others\u2014only occurred to me, with my natural modesty, I should consider myself the victim of some congenital defect; but this is not the case; far from it. The confusion on this head alone is awful, and what do the authorities teach us? I have already quoted Mathews and Cavendish on Whist; the second edition of Clay does not mention the forced discard, but it is mentioned in the last new and\u00a0improved<\/em>\u00a0edition with a vengeance: here I learn to my horror and amazement that \u201cthe discard from the\u00a0strongest<\/em>\u00a0suit * * *\u00a0is admirably explained and developed in the \u2018Laws and Principles of Whist,\u2019 by Cavendish<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now this statement, which was made in 1881, is puzzling. I have already pointed out that the \u201claws and principles of Whist\u201d by Cavendish neither explain nor develope anything of the kind, admirably or otherwise, before and after that date, Cavendish in\u00a0The Field<\/em>\u00a0has contradicted\u00a0it in toto. His latest utterance, on which I can lay my hand, is this. \u201cThe aphorism\u2014discard from your strong suit to an adverse trump lead is very imperfect\u201d\u2014as any aphorism, attempting to lay down a fixed law for such an intricate subject, is bound to be\u2014\u201cand misleading, and often gives rise to misunderstandings between partners as to the true character of the discard. A player should carefully consider the aspect of the game at the time the discard is made. With no indication to guide him, he may assume his partner\u2019s first discard to be a protective one, if the adversaries have led, or called for trumps; but if, notwithstanding an adverse lead, he can place the command of trumps with his partner, or must so place it in order to save the game, he should assume the reverse.\u201d Here, though somewhat verbose and obscure, he recognizes that the subject bristles all over with difficulty.<\/p>\n

Now let us return for a moment to the\u00a0improved<\/em>\u00a0Clay. \u201cThe discard from the strongest rests upon, and upon the very reasonable argument, that the partner is directed to lead the suit indicated by the discard.\u201d That a protective discard is a direction to my partner to make me third player in the suit may seem reasonable to the modern doctrinaire, but it is not the view ordinarily taken of it; then having produced his highly objectionable animal in\u00a0puris naturalibus<\/em>, the Editor winds up by\u00a0thanking Cavendish for his imprimatur<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This way madness lies! What Cavendish? how many Cavendishes are there? there is certainly a Cavendish on Whist, and there is a Cavendish in\u00a0The Field<\/em>; that makes two, on this point pretty much of one mind. Is there a third, who appears for one brief moment, without father, mother, or descent, mysterious as Melchizedek, just to contradict both his namesakes, and then disappears for ever in the ewigkeit? This conundrum is too much for me; I\u00a0give it up\u2026<\/p>\n

Still awake? Read more of our Sleep Aids<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12865],"tags":[14022,12866,14021,6053,14017,14811],"class_list":["post-108118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sleep-aid","tag-bloviating","tag-boring","tag-insomnia","tag-public-domain","tag-sleepy","tag-snooze"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHaving Trouble Sleeping? Read This.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Decline and Fall of Whist by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 23, 2017 \u2013 Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-24T04:30:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"774\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"The Decline and Fall of Whist\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-24T04:30:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\"},\"wordCount\":1231,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"bloviating\",\"boring\",\"insomnia\",\"public domain\",\"sleepy\",\"snooze\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sleep Aid\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\",\"name\":\"Having Trouble Sleeping? Read This.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-24T04:30:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Decline and Fall of Whist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\",\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Piepenbring\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Having Trouble Sleeping? Read This.","description":"Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Decline and Fall of Whist by Dan Piepenbring","og_description":"February 23, 2017 \u2013 Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-02-24T04:30:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":774,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Piepenbring","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Piepenbring","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Piepenbring","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8"},"headline":"The Decline and Fall of Whist","datePublished":"2017-02-24T04:30:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/"},"wordCount":1231,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg","keywords":["bloviating","boring","insomnia","public domain","sleepy","snooze"],"articleSection":["Sleep Aid"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/","name":"Having Trouble Sleeping? Read This.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-24T04:30:56+00:00","description":"Our Sleep Aids are devoted to curing insomnia with the dullest, most soporific texts available in the public domain.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Sleep-Aid-Medical.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/23\/the-decline-and-fall-of-whist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Decline and Fall of Whist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8","name":"Dan Piepenbring","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Piepenbring"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108118"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108120,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108118\/revisions\/108120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}