{"id":53992,"date":"2013-06-06T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=53992"},"modified":"2014-04-02T14:19:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T18:19:14","slug":"1-story-of-god-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/06\/1-story-of-god-71\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Story of God: 71"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Irony-Paris-Review\"<\/a>

Photograph via Wikimedia Commons.<\/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

71<\/strong><\/p>\n

A child was walking with a lion through a great fog.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve experienced death many times,\u201d the lion said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImpossible,\u201d the child said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true, my experience of death does not include my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had near-death experiences, however.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite a different matter,\u201d the child said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cShall I tell you what it felt like?\u201d<\/p>\n

The fog was so thick, the child could not see the lion. Still, the fog was pleasant, as was their ascent through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was possessed, overwhelmed, consumed, filled up by a blessed, utterly unknown presence,\u201d the lion said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas it \u2026\u201d the child hesitated, searching for the right word \u201c\u2026 consoling<\/i>?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d the lion said. \u201cAn inexplicably consoling irony filled my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill I experience the same, do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d the lion said, a little afraid for them both for the first time. \u201cPerhaps not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would not know what irony is,\u201d the child said.<\/p>\n

Fog<\/p>\n

Excerpted from<\/em> 99 Stories of God<\/a>. Used by permission of Byliner.<\/em><\/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":[11029,2825,7285],"class_list":["post-53992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-2","tag-99-stories-of-god","tag-excerpt","tag-joy-williams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n1 Story of God: 71 by Joy Williams<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 6, 2013 \u2013 This week, we will be running a series of pieces from Joy Williams\u2019s 99 Stories of God. 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