{"id":53716,"date":"2013-06-03T12:51:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T16:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=53716"},"modified":"2014-04-02T14:39:41","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T18:39:41","slug":"3-stories-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/03\/3-stories-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Stories of God: 5, 6, and 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Le-Songe-Paris-Review\"<\/a>

Louis-L\u00e9opold Boilly, Tartini’s Dream<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week, we will be running a series of pieces from Joy Williams\u2019s<\/em> 99 Stories of God. First published in <\/em>The Paris Review in 1968, Joy Williams has since appeared in our pages many times. <\/em>99 Stories of God is her first book of fiction in nearly a decade and was written, she has said, partly in an attempt to imitate the inimitable Thomas Bernhard, that \u201ccranky genius of Austrian literature,\u201d and his <\/em>The Voice Imitator: 104 Stories.<\/a>
<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5<\/strong><\/p>\n

At some point, Kafka became a vegetarian.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, visiting an aquarium in Berlin, he spoke to the fish through the glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow at last I can look at you in peace, I don\u2019t eat you anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nevertheless<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know that dream of Tolstoy\u2019s where he\u2019s in some sort of bed contraption suspended between the abyss below and the abyss above? You know that one? Well, I gave it to him, the Lord said.<\/p>\n

See That You Remember<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7<\/strong><\/p>\n

Franz Kafka once called his writing a form of prayer.<\/p>\n

He also reprimanded the long-suffering Felice Bauer in a letter: \u201cI did not say that writing ought to make everything clearer, but instead makes everything worse; what I said was that writing makes everything clearer and<\/i> worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

He frequently fretted that he was not a human being and that what he bore on his body was not a human head. Once he dreamt that as he lay in bed, he began to jump out the open window continuously at quarter-hour intervals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen trains came and one after another they ran over my body, outstretched on the tracks, deepening and widening the two cuts in my neck and legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t give him that one, the Lord said.<\/p>\n

Not His Best<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpted from<\/em> 99 Stories of God<\/a>. Used by permission of Byliner.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, we will be running a series of pieces from Joy Williams\u2019s 99 Stories of God. First published in The Paris Review in 1968, Joy Williams has since appeared in our pages many times. 99 Stories of God is her first book of fiction in nearly a decade and was written, she has said, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":540,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2258],"tags":[2825,7285],"class_list":["post-53716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-2","tag-excerpt","tag-joy-williams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3 Stories of God: 5, 6, and 7 by Joy Williams<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 3, 2013 \u2013 This week, we will be running a series of pieces from Joy Williams\u2019s 99 Stories of God. 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