Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> Deception and a good dramatic performance are difficult to distinguish. A deliberate lie and a practised turn of phrase can sound the same. By the same logic a fashioned appear- ance and self-invention are dangerously alike. The popularity of decep- tion as a narrative device permeates the Western canon. It animates Aesop’s fables (sixth century BC) Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1600) and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (1911) as well as the re- cent film Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Hollywood has made extensive use of deception as a narrative de- vice. Countless couples partners and lovers remain mysterious to one another while they enjoy other lives behind a polished surface identity. In Mr and Mrs Smith a bored married couple find themselves locked in mortal combat commissioned by separate sponsors to kill each other. The film is a high-action imitation of the earlier Prizzi’s Honor. (LL)