The Liar
Encyclopedia
The Liar is Stephen Fry
's first novel
. The book relates the life of Adrian Healey, a public school and Oxbridge educated man who excels at lying and, along with other characters, forming an old boy's club, partakes in a makebelieve espionage game solely to avert boredom.
A film version is in development, with Fry planning to star alongside Nicholas Hoult
and Ian McKellen
.
days to his life as an adult: Adrian Healey is "the liar" spoken of in the title. The early chapters are not in strict chronological order
, but are interlaced stories from three periods of the protagonist's life, namely, as a public school pupil, as a Cambridge student and as a "spy".
The espionage period differs from the other two in that initially it is written in italics and precedes chapters 1 to 8Espionage narrative before chapter 1: pages 1–6; chapter 2: pages 44–45; chapter 3: pages 90–91; chapter 4: pages 129–132; chapter 5: pages 169–171; chapter 6: pages 185–187; chapter 7: pages 202–203; chapter 8: pages 218–221, but not 9 to 14Chapter 9 starts at page 241, without an section in italics. The sections in italics stop when the university narrative becomes the espionage narrative, upon Adrian's graduation.
The characters are referred to by their clothes as the narrator appears objective (i.e. a spectator), but is actually omniscient, e.g. David Pearce's annoyance at Dickon Lister's ignorance of the story of Helen of Troy — starting with chapter 4, in keeping with spy games, the characters refer to each other by code names (a "tradecraft" as Adrian later calls it), in this case, the names are from the Trojan War
.
are at Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg
where Adrian witnesses the (staged) murder of their contact, entering the espionage game set up by his mentor Trefusis and his uncle David.
) and is an intelligent and irreverent young man, he has carefully groomed for himself the image of a witty, highly extroverted gay boy; however, despite his image, and despite regarding sex as his "public pride"Page 18, he finds himself unable to express his love for the beautiful Hugo Cartwright.
Another student, Paul Trotter (known as "Pigs Trotter"[ Sic.] ), hangs himself as he loves Adrian, who involves Cartwright.
Adrian is expelled from the school for writing an article discussing the tradition at (single gender) public schools of hidden behaviours that could be considered homosexual. Consequently he does his A levels in a state school in Gloucestershire. In the narrative he claims to have escaped from home due to unhappiness and have become a rent-boy, but it is later revealed from an overheard conversation that this never occurred.
He then became a school master and had his first sexual encounter with a woman, which he speaks positively of.
The school years finish with his cricket team defeating the team of Hugo Cartwright, which he is not anymore attracted to.
Adrian joins Trefusis in his forced sabbatical which nominally is spent studying the fricative shift in English, but in actuality is spent in a game of espionage where they are to acquire the parts for Mendax (latin adjective meaning "lying, deceptive"), a lie inhibiting device from his Hungarian friend Szabó and his two nephews.
Adrian is gradually introduced to spy game as during his university he had accompanied Trefusis in several trips, such as the one in Salzburg, where Trefusis gets one of three parts of Mendax.
A showdown results with Adrian's uncle David (Sir David Pearce of MI5) and Trefusis, which resolves as David's aid was a double agent working for Trefusis and it is revealed that the murders witnessed by Adrian were staged so Adrian would report them to his uncle, who ordered the murders to scare Trefusis into giving Mendax to MI5, and that Mendax was fictional.
The book ends with Adrian, now a Cambridge fellow, recruiting a new spy for a new game.
and humour, as well as its often outrageous references to various homosexual experiences. The book also has an unreliable narrator
; Adrian is 'the liar' and lies habitually to other characters; accordingly, in the book, whole chapters are later revealed to be fictitious, though the reader has no prior warning. This manner of sudden revelation occurs at various points throughout the book, placing respectable characters in scandalous situations and juxtaposing humour and triviality with darker themes.
. The character Professor Trefusis
was created by Fry for a number of humorous radio broadcasts and makes a number of appearances in another of Fry’s books, Paperweight
, in which one can read the transcript of many of his radio broadcasts.
Student Union building is named after the book, as Fry was Rector
of the university from 1992 to 1998.
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
's first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
. The book relates the life of Adrian Healey, a public school and Oxbridge educated man who excels at lying and, along with other characters, forming an old boy's club, partakes in a makebelieve espionage game solely to avert boredom.
A film version is in development, with Fry planning to star alongside Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult is an English actor, best known for playing Marcus Brewer in the 2002 film About a Boy, Tony Stonem in the E4, BAFTA-winning television series Skins, and Beast in the X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class.-Early life:Hoult was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, the third of four...
and Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
.
Book structure
This book takes the reader from the protagonist’s public schoolIndependent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
days to his life as an adult: Adrian Healey is "the liar" spoken of in the title. The early chapters are not in strict chronological order
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, but are interlaced stories from three periods of the protagonist's life, namely, as a public school pupil, as a Cambridge student and as a "spy".
The espionage period differs from the other two in that initially it is written in italics and precedes chapters 1 to 8Espionage narrative before chapter 1: pages 1–6; chapter 2: pages 44–45; chapter 3: pages 90–91; chapter 4: pages 129–132; chapter 5: pages 169–171; chapter 6: pages 185–187; chapter 7: pages 202–203; chapter 8: pages 218–221, but not 9 to 14Chapter 9 starts at page 241, without an section in italics. The sections in italics stop when the university narrative becomes the espionage narrative, upon Adrian's graduation.
The characters are referred to by their clothes as the narrator appears objective (i.e. a spectator), but is actually omniscient, e.g. David Pearce's annoyance at Dickon Lister's ignorance of the story of Helen of Troy — starting with chapter 4, in keeping with spy games, the characters refer to each other by code names (a "tradecraft" as Adrian later calls it), in this case, the names are from the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
.
plot summary
The book opens with the narrative of the espionage period. Adrian and his mentor Professor Donald TrefusisDonald Trefusis
Professor Donald Cornwallis Treadway Trefusis is an eccentric fictional character created by Stephen Fry.He initially appeared as an occasional contributor of "wireless essays" to Ned Sherrin's BBC Radio 4 programme Loose Ends in 1986...
are at Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
where Adrian witnesses the (staged) murder of their contact, entering the espionage game set up by his mentor Trefusis and his uncle David.
School years
In the narrative of the school years, Adrian is at a public boys school (HarrowHarrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
) and is an intelligent and irreverent young man, he has carefully groomed for himself the image of a witty, highly extroverted gay boy; however, despite his image, and despite regarding sex as his "public pride"Page 18, he finds himself unable to express his love for the beautiful Hugo Cartwright.
Another student, Paul Trotter (known as "Pigs Trotter"
Adrian is expelled from the school for writing an article discussing the tradition at (single gender) public schools of hidden behaviours that could be considered homosexual. Consequently he does his A levels in a state school in Gloucestershire. In the narrative he claims to have escaped from home due to unhappiness and have become a rent-boy, but it is later revealed from an overheard conversation that this never occurred.
He then became a school master and had his first sexual encounter with a woman, which he speaks positively of.
The school years finish with his cricket team defeating the team of Hugo Cartwright, which he is not anymore attracted to.
University years
In the narrative of the university years, Adrian is at the fictional St. Matthew's College, Cambridge and is given a challenge to produce something original by his tutor Professor Donald Trefusis. As a result, with the aid of his his girlfriend — and later wife and acclaimed producer —, Jenny de Woolf, and his housemate Garry he writes and claims to have discovered a lost manuscript of Charles Dickens which dealt with child sex trade. The discovery brings Jenny and the college fame, but it also results in a dialogue between Adrian and Hugo, who has become an alcoholic.Espionage years
After graduation, Adrian is at a meeting where farcically he and other attendees have a discussion while sabotaging the footage of the onlooking BBC film crew. At the meeting they discuss the arrest of Trefusis, who was arrested for cottaging. It is later revealed in the book that it was actually a document exchange preceded by two kisses on the checks as is custom in several continental countries, such as Hungary.Adrian joins Trefusis in his forced sabbatical which nominally is spent studying the fricative shift in English, but in actuality is spent in a game of espionage where they are to acquire the parts for Mendax (latin adjective meaning "lying, deceptive"), a lie inhibiting device from his Hungarian friend Szabó and his two nephews.
Adrian is gradually introduced to spy game as during his university he had accompanied Trefusis in several trips, such as the one in Salzburg, where Trefusis gets one of three parts of Mendax.
A showdown results with Adrian's uncle David (Sir David Pearce of MI5) and Trefusis, which resolves as David's aid was a double agent working for Trefusis and it is revealed that the murders witnessed by Adrian were staged so Adrian would report them to his uncle, who ordered the murders to scare Trefusis into giving Mendax to MI5, and that Mendax was fictional.
Conclusion
Subsequently Adrian overhears a conversation between Trefusis and David where it is revealed that several parts of the story were not true and that the espionage adventure was just a game to counter boredom. Previously, a letter Jenny had written to Adrian, stated that while young girls grew up, young boys did not, making their erudite education irrelevant and just a game.The book ends with Adrian, now a Cambridge fellow, recruiting a new spy for a new game.
Note on code names
In the espionage period, David Pearce and Dickon Lister refer to other characters by code names:- Adrian is "TelemachusTelemachusTelemachus is a figure in Greek mythology, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, and a central character in Homer's Odyssey. The first four books in particular focus on Telemachus' journeys in search of news about his father, who has been away at war...
", the name of the son of OdysseusOdysseusOdysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
in the OdysseaOdysseaOdyssea is a genus of grass in the Poaceae family.-External links:*...
. - Professor Donald Trefusis is "Odysseus".
- Istvan Moltaj is "PatrochlusPatroclusIn Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms....
" (Sic. In Greek Πάτροκλος, not Πάτροχλος) - Szabó is "Helen", the catalyst of the Trojan war.
- His nephews are "Castor" and "Pollux"
- Salzburg is the "walls of Illium"
Commentary
The book is noted for its witWit
Wit is a form of intellectual humour, and a wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee.-Forms of wit:...
and humour, as well as its often outrageous references to various homosexual experiences. The book also has an unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
; Adrian is 'the liar' and lies habitually to other characters; accordingly, in the book, whole chapters are later revealed to be fictitious, though the reader has no prior warning. This manner of sudden revelation occurs at various points throughout the book, placing respectable characters in scandalous situations and juxtaposing humour and triviality with darker themes.
Lauguage
The author, Stephen Fry, is renowned for his interest in the English language: in a podcast, Stephen Fry talks about the evolving language, including his interest in "verbing" nouns (nouns used as verbs), and reproaches grammar pedants. In the book there are several experiments with the English language, mostly in direct speech. These range from several nouns used as verbs (e.g. "You everything me" or "you sir me"), americanisms (e.g. "burglarised" and "gotten") to the omission of the Oxford comma (e.g. "Tom and Adrian and Pigs Trotter"Page 37). In the book, at school Adrian actively tries new vocabulary,Page 37 as a spy he is told off by Trefusis for saying "it is them" instead of "it is they" (a result of a peculiarity of the verb "to be") and complains to Trefusis about the habit of another (less erudite) character who overused the suffix "-ise".page 219: "God knows what new linguistic macé-doine he's going to serve up next"Autobiographical elements
The novel is partly autobiographical and many scenes echo experiences later recounted in Fry's memoir, Moab is My WashpotMoab is My Washpot
Moab Is My Washpot is Stephen Fry’s autobiography, covering the first 20 years of his life. Reviewers described it as both humorous and painfully candid....
. The character Professor Trefusis
Donald Trefusis
Professor Donald Cornwallis Treadway Trefusis is an eccentric fictional character created by Stephen Fry.He initially appeared as an occasional contributor of "wireless essays" to Ned Sherrin's BBC Radio 4 programme Loose Ends in 1986...
was created by Fry for a number of humorous radio broadcasts and makes a number of appearances in another of Fry’s books, Paperweight
Paperweight (book)
Paperweight is a collection of writings by Stephen Fry, first published in the United Kingdom in 1992.The book contains a wide selection of Fry's journalism, including comment pieces, reviews and criticism....
, in which one can read the transcript of many of his radio broadcasts.
Dundee University
The bar on level 3 of the University of DundeeUniversity of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....
Student Union building is named after the book, as Fry was Rector
Rector of the University of Dundee
The Rector of the University of Dundee is elected by the matriculated students of the University. From 1967 to 2010 the Rector was automatically a full member of the University Court...
of the university from 1992 to 1998.