ABSTRACT
In writing The Mask Daniel Craig employs narrative strategies that give form to its performative stance. Craig's notion of the Ubermarionette, his formulations of the role of the director, his underlining of the concept of performance at the expense of the literary text, are all ideas which can be read as embodying, extending, ramifying the concept of the mask. The elevation of the mask to a metaphysical realm is something which is a constant theme throughout the aestheticist 1890's. Philosophizing like a poet also allows Craig to be as whimsical and eccentric as he pleases with his narrative. One of the oldest narrative techniques for poetic philosophizing is, of course, the dialogue. The Mask is one of the first attempts to construct such a Craigiana. Scripted and directed by the man himself, this quasi-theatrical periodical or performance was to be one of the first constructions of the Craigian myth.
