SOURCE: "Lies for Sale: Peter Carey," in Liars: Australian New Novelists, Penguin Books, 1988, pp. 148-84.
Daniel is an Australian critic. In the following excerpt, she provides an overview of Carey's works through Oscar and Lucinda.
Illywhacker opens with the Liar's paradox: 'I am a terrible liar and I have always been a liar.' Herbert announces this early 'to set things straight'. He urges us not to waste time trying to 'pull apart the strands of lies and truth, but to relax and enjoy the show'. He is a liar and a showman, and he is also a salesman. He gives fair warning to the buyer, but he is a good salesman, his goods are glossy, and the caveat becomes a forgotten small-print clause. Herbert is a used-car salesman and, with his 'salesman's sense of history', he is also selling us used-history, second-hand history. So who is the previous owner of this history Herbert Badgery is selling? What kind of deal have they got going between them? Badgery is the go-between in the business of the Lie, the showman in the showroom, the previous owner, Peter Carey. As Herbert sells us second-hand history, Carey is outside the showroom, Carey-Escher watching Herbert Badgery's hands drawing each other. The Liar is Carey, the reader is the buyer, and the real business deal is the Lie of fiction. Caveat emptor.
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