ABSTRACT
An unusual image or an impossible juxtaposition is used to speak some truth that is difficult to set in realistic or descriptive prose. When the truth dispels the lie, it takes with it the world of self and object representations created by the liar. Each liar obviously feels that the lie is essential for his self-protection. Some liars' lies are acts of omission, they leave out the truth. These persons live in a space like that of the negative hallucination, they choose not to see or narrate that which they know is true. In both types of lying, however, the liar uses deception to compensate for a severe lack in self formation. The essence of the psychopathic liar's madness is implicit in reflex-like avoidance of truth-telling, a diversion of the self and its others from speaking the truth because its articulation is equated with some unidentifiable personal annihilation.
