Synopsis
The ravaged streets of Beirut are the backdrop for The Deception -- the story of one man's sojourn in the daily terror and atrocities that Beirut has come to symbolize. Georg Laschen, a journalist in that war-torn city, faces violent death every time he investigates a story. Yet more frightening to him is his inability to describe that violence, to grasp a dependable reality, and to relieve his internal torment with a fulfilling romance.
At thirty-nine, Georg Laschen is running from a loveless marriage. Assigned to Beirut in 1976, at the height of the Lebanese civil war, he soon finds it impossible to convey the true horror around him in the conventional reports his newspaper requires. Every palatable sentence he writes in his hotel room is a distortion and betrayal of the slaughter and blight he witnesses outside.
Laschen seeks escape from a creeping paralysis and self-reproach through a love affair with Ariane, the young German widow of a Christian Lebanese. His fantasies of starting a new life with her are threatened by her obsession with a newly adopted child. The further discovery of her infidelity leads Laschen to enter, with deliberate bravado, a nighttime battle zone under shell fire. There at last the professional observer of war becomes a participant in its terrible realities.
Distinguished by its unflinching evocation of mortal conflict within and without, The Deception is an impressive addition to the literature of war and redemption.
"It reads like an anticipation of his, our sickness - the absurdity of the normal. Accidents that have ceased to frighten us. The exploitation of horror. The sophistries of madness. The closeness that alienates. Love, that will-o'-the-wisp. The narrowing of our condition."
- Gunter Grass
"I found Born's novel unusually exciting and stimulating, partly because of the light it casts on recent events in Beirut (and on their coverage by the press and TV), but mainly because it goes so directly to the heart of its subject matter, which is the conscience of words, The Deception that is waged in the name of 'objective reporting' and the real nature and ultimate logic of that ghastly entertainment we refer to as 'the news'. "
- JoelAgee
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Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)
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The Deception
Seller: The Chatham Bookseller, Madison, NJ, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First American Edition. 238 pp. Blue boards with black line art on the front cover depicting a person with a blindfold, and white text on the spine, show no signs of previous use, there is jsut slight staining from age along the top edges of the pages that is not visible when open. Blue pictorial jacket has some scuffing and staining as well as small chippng at the corners and around edges, but is still fully in tact and legible. Size: Octavo. Book. Seller Inventory # 030860
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The deception
Seller: Patrico Books, Apollo Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Good. Ships Out Tomorrow! Seller Inventory # 250616028