The Dance of a Sham Flanders masculinity as he negotiates his

masculinity as he negotiates his way over the twin peaks of politics and family" – Lesley McDowell

with elements of the mythic and grotesque interspersed with hard-edged realism

and native and national language(s)

populated by shape-shifting characters

The Dance of a Sham Flanders masculinity as he negotiates hisThe narrator of this novel begins by introducing himself not as a speaker but a listener, spellbound by his friend Caracala's yarns, which blend accounts of youthful mischief with casual references to Cervantes and Laurence Sterne. At first, the spotlight is entirely on Caracala, but the narrator soon begins to distrust his friend, concluding that he is no more than a sham, a performer. Yet the reader in turn comes to doubt the narrator's own