|
''A Pack of Lies: twelve stories in one'' is a children's novel with metafictional elements, written by Geraldine McCaughrean and published by Oxford in 1988. It features a family antique shop whose new salesman tells historical tales to sell antiques. The stories vary widely in type. McCaughrean won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.〔 She also won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a similar award that authors may not win twice.〔 Six books have won both awards in 45 years through 2011.〔 Scholastic published a U.S. edition in 1991.〔("A Pack of Lies: Twelves Stories in One" ) (1991 Scholastic US edition). WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-07-27.〕 == Plot summary == The narrative follows the age-old pattern of separate stories embedded within a primary story, as in the ''Panchatantra'', the ''Arabian Nights'' and the ''Canterbury Tales''. Each of the stories is linked to a different piece of furniture in an antique shop, and the question arises as to whether the stories are pure invention ("a pack of lies") or could perhaps be true - and what their being "true" would mean about the narrator. A young man with the unlikely name of MCC Berkshire ("from Reading") follows Ailsa home from the library and talks himself into an unpaid job in her mother's run-down antique shop - all he asks is somewhere to sleep and books to read. He has a wonderful way of assessing the customers and suiting the provenance he gives the furniture to their interests. Moreover, he seems to adapt himself - his accent, his manner, his personal history - to the story being told, which also seems to be inspired by the book he has just been reading. When chided by Mrs Povey for telling lies, he responds: "'Not ''lies'', madam.... ''Fiction''. That's the thing to give 'em. That's the thing everyone wants. ''Fiction, madam! " Ailsa and Mrs Povey, while grateful to MCC for his help and enjoying his company, often have doubts about him, while Uncle Clive, on a brief visit, is positively hostile. After the Poveys' financial problems are suddenly solved, literally from the pages of a book, the scene is set for MCC's departure. In the final chapter Ailsa realizes the shocking truth, while the reader realizes that Ailsa's reality is another of MCC's tales. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A Pack of Lies」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|