This book demonstrates instead the writers' use of irony and allegory in struggling against the deceitfulness of their own texts.

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Balzac: the power of lying and the irony of power; 2. Descriptive and narrative self-deception: Flaubert's allegory of parody; 3. Forgetting and beyond: Zola and allegory; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.