The Writer as Liar

Originally published in 1975, The Writer as Liar examines the literary game of falsehood as it is portrayed in the Decameron . The book examines how Boccaccio’s collection of tales has a ‘frame’ story, its own built-in key to the art of story-telling, its internal logic of truth and falsehood, as well as its moments of self-parody, pure narrative intrigue and sophisticated sexual symbolism. The book formulates the argument that Boccaccio’s story telling is seen as an artfully malicious operation