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What is the principal deception at the heart of Philip Roth's novel DECEPTION? Is it
truth disguised as fiction or vice versa? Is it the deception of one lover's infidelity?
At the end of the book, you're still not sure, and that is where the power of this work
lies...in its ability to evoke the dual sense of thinking you know what's going on, but
having shreds of doubt creep into your own argument.
DECEPTION is writing at its simplest. It is a work of pure dialogue. This dialogue takes
place in the pre- and post-coital phases of a relationship between two lovers. One of the
lovers is an author named Philip who has as one of the characters in his fiction a man
named Zuckerman --- facts that correspond to those in the life of Philip Roth.
Philip's lover finds a notebook in which Philip describes a love affair with a Polish
woman. Infuriated by what she thinks is proof of his infidelity, she confronts
Philip. He replies, "I have imagined a love affair --- I do it all the time. Not the
way most men do, while clutching their dicks, but because that is my work."
When asked if he intends to publish this work "shed of all the expository fat,"
creating a situation where readers will not know that its an "imagination of
love," Philip retorts:
"They generally don't, so what difference does it make? I write fiction and I'm told
it's autobiography, I write autobiography and I'm told it's fiction, so since I'm so dim
and they're so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn't."
Whether it's fiction or fact, what it does prove to be is thoroughly engrossing. Two
people emerge at their most intimate, when their guards are let down and emotions are raw,
totally exposed. It plays to that dark, voyeuristic side of the reader while at the same
time casting doubt on all we've read. You may be enthralled or you may be disturbed, but
when you're through, you'll thank Roth for his DECEPTION.
--- Reviewed by Vern Wiessner
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