Falsehood Disguised (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures)

The principal objective of this study is to elucidate La Rochefoucauld’s concept of truth. This idea will be examined through close textual analysis of both the Maximes and Reflexions diverses. Although the Maximes have attracted considerable critical attention over the years, the Reflexions diverses have been thoroughly explored by only a few specialists, most recently by Jean Lafond. Modern criticism of la Rochefoucauld has focused on many issues, but no one has yet attempted to study his sometimes-enigmatic pronouncements concerning truth and the extraordinary lengths to which human beings are willing to go to disguise truth form others and especially form themselves.