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Article: The Hoax.
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- November 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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by Sophie Masson; Minerva, 1997, $16.95.
In an essay on the nature of hoaxes ("Abyss or Fairground Mirror", Quadrant, June 1997) Sophie Masson wrote: "Hoaxes inhabit strange territory indeed: in most cases they are not crimes, but still have some of crime's characteristics, particularly in their effects on their targets. Similarly, most hoaxers are not criminals but nevertheless their motives range over a rather similar gamut, from the psychopathic to the cynical, with all the gradations in between."
Perhaps in the motives psychopathic Masson includes revenge, for that is the motive for the hoax around which this novel is written, although as her story ...