The Dance of A Sham

The narrator of this novel begins by introducing himself not as a speaker but a listener, spellbound by his friend Caracala’s yarns, which blend accounts of youthful mischief with casual references to Cervantes and Laurence Sterne. At first, the spotlight is entirely on Caracala, but the narrator soon begins to distrust his friend, concluding that he is no more than a sham, a performer. Yet the reader in turn comes to doubt the narrator’s own pretensions to honesty, until every source of information has become so unreliable as to make the very notion of a “true story” seem like blatant propaganda.

Year

2014

Language

English

Publisher

Dalkey Archive Press

Editions

3

Pages

89

ISBN

9781628970326

Data source: Wikidata