{"id":144803,"date":"2020-05-05T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=144803"},"modified":"2020-05-05T12:56:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T16:56:23","slug":"redux-red-black-and-purple-zigzags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/05\/redux-red-black-and-purple-zigzags\/","title":{"rendered":"Redux: Red, Black, and Purple Zigzags"},"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>

Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week at The Paris Review<\/em>, we\u2019re inspired by the adage \u201cApril showers bring May flowers\u201d and the constant rain falling here in New York. Read on for Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez\u2019s Art of Fiction interview<\/a>, Lydia Davis\u2019s short story \u201cThe Seals<\/a>,\u201d and John Tranter\u2019s poem \u201cRain<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you enjoy these free interviews, stories, and poems, why not\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0The Paris Review<\/em>\u00a0and read the entire archive? You\u2019ll also get four new issues of the quarterly delivered straight to your door. And for as long as we\u2019re flattening the curve,\u00a0The Paris Review<\/em>\u00a0will be sending out a new weekly newsletter, The Art of Distance, featuring unlocked archival selections, dispatches from the\u00a0Daily<\/em>, and efforts from our peer organizations. Read the latest edition\u00a0here<\/a>, and then\u00a0sign up for more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez, The Art of Fiction No. 69<\/a>
\nIssue no. 82 (Winter 1981)<\/em><\/p>\n

When I was working for El Espectador<\/em> in Bogot\u00e1, I used to do at least three stories a week, two or three editorial notes every day, and I did movie reviews. Then at night, after everyone had gone home, I would stay behind writing my novels. I liked the noise of the Linotype machines, which sounded like rain. If they stopped, and I was left in silence, I wouldn\u2019t be able to work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The Seals<\/a>
\nBy Lydia Davis
\nIssue no. 207 (Winter 2013)<\/em><\/p>\n

She worried about so many things. She would imagine a bad outcome and she would elaborate on it until it grew into a story and moved far away from where it started. It could start with a prediction of rain. To one of her grown daughters she might say something like, It\u2019s going to rain. Don\u2019t forget your raincoat. If you get wet you might catch cold, and then you might miss the performance tomorrow. That would be too bad. Bill would be so disappointed. He\u2019s looking forward to hearing what you think of the play. You and he have talked about it so much\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Rain<\/a>
\nBy John Tranter
\nIssue no. 117 (Winter 1990)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018We went to New York,\u2019 Kathy said.
\n\u2018Colin was painting well then, and he was
\non the edge of a breakthrough, he said.
\nBreakdown was more like it. He was drinking,
\nsmoking a lot of dope. He\u2019d sit on the floor
\nand stare at his work, and talk about his soul.
\nWhy are men full of shit? He painted
\nbig canvases, twelve feet across,
\nred, black and purple zigzags,
\nthen he\u2019d blacken them with a blowtorch\u2014
\ntrying to face up to the Americans,
\nhe said \u2026<\/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 Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez\u2019s Art of Fiction interview, a story by Lydia Davis, and a poem by John Tranter.<\/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-144803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-redux"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRedux: Red, Black, and Purple Zigzags by The Paris Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week, we\u2019ve lowered the paywall on Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez\u2019s Art of Fiction interview, a story by Lydia Davis, and a poem by John Tranter.\" \/>\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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