{"id":147116,"date":"2020-08-25T13:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=147116"},"modified":"2020-08-25T13:23:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T17:23:14","slug":"redux-augusts-wilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/25\/redux-augusts-wilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Redux: August\u2019s Wilt"},"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>

August Wilson.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week at The Paris Review<\/em>, we\u2019re thinking about, well, August, and how the month is drawing to a close. Read on for August Wilson\u2019s Art of Theater interview<\/a>, Ben Okri\u2019s short story \u201cThe Dream-Vendor\u2019s August<\/a>,\u201d and Lucia Perillo\u2019s poem \u201cBeauty Bark<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you enjoy these free interviews, stories, and poems, why not\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0The Paris Review<\/em>? Or, better yet, subscribe to\u00a0our special summer offer<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0The New York Review of Books<\/em>\u00a0for only $99. And for as long as we\u2019re flattening the curve,\u00a0The Paris Review<\/em>\u00a0will be sending out a 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

August Wilson, The Art of Theater No. 14<\/a>
\nIssue no. 153, Winter 1999<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Can you say what first drew you to the theater?<\/p>\n

WILSON<\/p>\n

I think it was the ability of the theater to communicate ideas and extol virtues that drew me to it. And also I was, and remain, fascinated by the idea of an audience as a community of people who gather willingly to bear witness. A novelist writes a novel and people read it. But reading is a solitary act. While it may elicit a varied and personal response, the communal nature of the audience is like having five hundred people read your novel and respond to it at the same time. I find that thrilling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The Dream-Vendor\u2019s August<\/a>
\nBy Ben Okri
\nIssue no. 105, Winter 1987<\/em><\/p>\n

He sat on the bed. He stared at the almanacs of long-bearded mystics on the wall. Somewhere in him was the feeling that a pain he had lived with had suddenly edged towards the unbearable. He had the taste of tangerines in his mouth. He was two weeks into the month of August.<\/p>\n

When July passed with its thunderous downpours, and when August advanced with its dry winds and browning elephant grass, Joe felt himself at the mercy of a cyclical helplessness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Beauty Bark<\/a>
\nBy Lucia Perillo
\nIssue no. 169, Spring 2004<\/em><\/p>\n

But I wonder what you make of us
\ngrowing crookedly out of the burial mulch:
\nus the brooded-by-death, the pricker-limbed, better get your leather gloves.
\nGood God my thorns are sharp, and my root\u2019s so long
\nyou can forget about screwdrivering it out.
\nBut come August\u2019s wilt you will praise my random flower.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

To read more from the\u00a0<\/em>Paris Review\u00a0archives, make sure to\u00a0subscribe<\/a>! In addition to four print issues per year, you\u2019ll also receive complete digital access to our sixty-seven years\u2019 worth of archives<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>And for a limited time, you can\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to both\u00a0<\/em>The Paris Review\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>The New York Review of Books\u00a0for just $99.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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