{"id":153374,"date":"2021-07-06T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=153374"},"modified":"2021-07-06T13:42:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T17:42:00","slug":"redux-fireworks-out-of-nowhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2021\/07\/06\/redux-fireworks-out-of-nowhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Redux: Fireworks Out of Nowhere"},"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>

Harry Mathews in Key West, Florida, 2006.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week at The Paris Review<\/em>, we\u2019re celebrating the Fourth of July. Read on for Harry Mathews\u2019s Art of Fiction interview<\/a>, Rachel Kushner\u2019s \u201cBlanks<\/a>,\u201d and Rita Dove\u2019s \u201cWingfoot Lake<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you enjoy these free interviews, stories, and poems, why not subscribe<\/a> to The Paris Review<\/em>? You\u2019ll also get four new issues of the quarterly delivered straight to your door. Or, choose our new summer bundle<\/a> and purchase a year\u2019s worth of The Paris Review<\/em> and The New York Review of Books<\/em> for $99 ($50 off the regular price!).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harry Mathews, The Art of Fiction No. 191<\/a>
\nIssue no. 180 (Spring 2007)<\/em><\/p>\n

The ends of my books are also designed in a way that subverts any illusion that what you have become involved in is anything but the book itself \u2026 At the end of Tlooth<\/em> there\u2019s a description of fireworks out of nowhere. This is the conclusion of the book, except apparently nothing is concluded. \u201cThe labyrinth of their colors sets a dense clarity against the blankness of the night.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Blanks<\/a>
\nBy Rachel Kushner
\nIssue no. 203 (Winter 2012)<\/em><\/p>\n

It was the morning of the Fourth of July and kids were lighting smoke bombs, sulfurous coils of red and green, the colors dense and bright like concentrated dye blooming through water.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Wingfoot Lake<\/a>
\nBy Rita Dove
\nIssue no. 96 (Summer 1985)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Independence Day, 1964<\/em><\/p>\n

On her 36th birthday, Thomas had shown her
\nher first swimming pool. It had been
\nhis favorite color, exactly\u2014just
\nso much of it, the swimmers\u2019 white arms jutting
\ninto the chevrons of high society.
\nShe had rolled up her window
\nand told him to drive on, fast.<\/p>\n

Now this act of mercy<\/em>; four daughters
\ndragging her to their husbands\u2019 company picnic,
\nwhite families on one side and them
\non the other, unpacking the same
\nsqueeze bottles of Heinz, the same
\nwaxy beef patties and Salem potato chip bags.
\nSo he was dead for the first time
\non Fourth of July\u2014ten years ago<\/p>\n

had been harder, waiting for something to happen,
\nand ten years before that, the girls
\nlike young horses eyeing the track \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you enjoyed the above, don\u2019t forget to subscribe<\/a> to <\/em>The Paris Review. In addition to four print issues per year, you\u2019ll also receive complete digital access to our sixty-eight years\u2019 worth of archives. Or, choose our new summer bundle<\/a> and purchase a year\u2019s worth of <\/em>The Paris Review and <\/em>The New York Review of Books for $99 ($50 off the regular price!).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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