City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research Lehman College 2017 The Noble Art of Lying James E. Mahon CUNY Lehman College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/le_pubs/276 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] CHAPTER EIGHT The Noble Art of Lying ]AMES EDWIN MAHON "A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar." -Mark Twain1 Mark Twain wrote two essays about lying: "On the Decay of the Art of Ly ing" and "My First Lie, and How I Got Out of It." They remain among the most original things ever written about lying. Nevertheless, they are seldom included in discussions of lying. This is probably because they are considered too light-hearted.2 Unlike Oscar Wilde's later, more famous, and similarly titled dialogue "The Decay of Lying: An Observation"-in which, after complaining that politicians, lawyers, and journalists are "unimaginative" in their lies, he proceeds to discuss "Lying in art"3-Twain's earlier, largely overlooked essay "On the Decay of the Art of Lying"4 is devoted to everyday lying. It is said to have been read at a meeting of the "Historical and An tiquarian Club" of Hartford, Connecticut, and offered for the "thirty dollar prize" (which it did not win).5 Scholars date the reading to April 5, 1880, when Twain delivered it to the Monday Evening Club.6 lt was first published in his collection The Stolen White Elephant, Etc., in 1882.1 lt was in this essay that Twain first discussed the so-called silent lie.