Three Novels With a Hoax in the Plot
A Retired Sea Captain, a British Royalty Wannabe and a Cheating Wife
Oct 20, 2009
In the following novels, hoaxes range from one end of the believability scale to the other. An old man’s long-standing hoax is exposed and an old woman’s hoax is confessed. A cheating wife’s deceit is funny and sexy at the same time, and the reader is treated to a surprise ending in one of the stories.
Home is the Sailor, by Jorge Amado
A town on the seashore of Brazil is the setting for this novel about Captain Vasco Moscoso de Arago. Capt. Vasco is retired now, but he has been telling tales of his seafaring life for decades. He talks about his adventures, his women, his prowess and his conquests. The problem is that none of it is true; the Captain has never even been to sea. When a town dignitary discovers the hoax, he sets up his own scheme to have the Captain help a disabled ocean liner get safely into port.
Knopf, 1964. No ISBN issued.
Lady L.; a novel, by Romain Gary
On her 80th birthday, one of England’s most famous blue blooded grande dames reveals the details of her life-long hoax. She had been a prostitute in Paris after her parents died, and only entered the world of wealth and nobility when she was recruited by a group of anarchists. According to Booklist, “a surprise ending is an additional fillip in a novelette told with irony, wit and sophistication”.
Simon & Schuster, 1959. No ISBN issued.
The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon
Oedipa becomes a co-executor for the estate of her multimillionaire lover named Pierce. She gets involved in tracking down the meaning of a geometric symbol that is connected to an ancient mail service. In this process she loses her husband and her psychiatrist as well as her lover. The hoax in this book is "a puzzle, an intrigue, a literary and historical tour de force with a strongly European flavor", according to the San Francisco Examiner. The book is both funny and sexually explicit.
Lippincott, 1966. No ISBN issued.
A hoax is not an uncommon thing. Hoaxes can be found in fiction, in song lyrics, in movies, television programs and even in real life. Authors themselves have even pulled a hoax on the public once in a while. Parents have used their children, employees their bosses and siblings have used each other to perpetrate a good hoax. It seems that fictional hoaxes are harmless good fun in most cases.
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