{"id":138694,"date":"2019-08-13T13:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T17:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=138694"},"modified":"2019-08-13T11:43:14","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T15:43:14","slug":"redux-helpless-failed-brake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/08\/13\/redux-helpless-failed-brake\/","title":{"rendered":"Redux: Helpless Failed Brake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, the editors of\u00a0<\/em>The Paris Review\u00a0lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine\u2019s archive. You can have these unlocked pieces delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday by\u00a0signing up for the Redux newsletter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jorge Sempr\u00fan.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week, The Paris Review<\/em> is celebrating the simple joys of bicycling. Read on for Jorge Sempr\u00fan\u2019s Art of Fiction interview<\/a>, as well as Paul\u00e9 B\u00e1rt\u00f3n\u2019s short story \u201cThe Woe Shirt<\/a>\u201d and Carol Muske-Dukes\u2019s poem \u201cNo Hands<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you enjoy these free interviews, stories, and poems, why not\u00a0subscribe to read the entire archive<\/a>? You\u2019ll also get four new issues of the quarterly delivered straight to your door. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jorge Sempr\u00fan, The Art of Fiction No. 192<\/a>
\nIssue no. 180 (Spring 2007)<\/em><\/p>\n

The first thing I did every morning before riding my bicycle to school was buy the papers to find out the latest news of the war in Spain. It was always bad. The Republic was being crushed, day after day. In 1939, when we finally lost the war, my parents and I moved to Paris. I wanted to be a philosopher, and I was preparing for the entrance exam to the \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure when I decided to join the Resistance and abandon my studies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The Woe Shirt<\/a>
\nBy Paul\u00e9 B\u00e1rt\u00f3n
\nIssue no. 78 (Summer 1980)<\/em><\/p>\n

B\u00e9lem did tinker repair his bicycle by the stink-toe tree. Better to work there it smells so bad, work gets done no lazy quick. Then he rode to buy a woe shirt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

No Hands<\/a>
\nBy Carol Muske-Dukes
\nIssue no. 208 (Spring 2014)<\/em><\/p>\n

He rode \u201cno hands,\u201d speeding
\nheadlong down the hill near
\nour house, his arms extended,<\/p>\n

held rigid away from his body,
\nour small daughter behind him
\non the bike in her yellow sunsuit,<\/p>\n

bareheaded. She held on to him
\nfor her life. I watched them from
\nabove\u2014helpless failed brake.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you like what you read,\u00a0get a year of<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>The Paris Review\u2014four new issues, plus instant access to everything we\u2019ve ever published.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, we\u2019ve lowered the paywall on Jorge Sempr\u00fan\u2019s Art of Fiction interview, a story by Paul\u00e9 B\u00e1rt\u00f3n, and a poem by Carol Muske-Dukes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31006],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-redux"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRedux: Helpless Failed Brake by The Paris Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week, we\u2019ve lowered the paywall on Jorge Sempr\u00fan\u2019s Art of Fiction interview, a story by Paul\u00e9 B\u00e1rt\u00f3n, and a poem by Carol Muske-Dukes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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