Camp: The Lie That Tells the Truth

Camp: The Lie That Tells the Truth by Philip Core. Paperback edition. ISBN: 9780933328839.

Camp style, in behaviour, clothing, artistic output or emotions, has never been properly explored or defined. Jean Cocteau, as camp a figure as Paris has ever produced, said in Vanity Fair in 1922, I am a lie that tells the truth. This paradox is the basis of Philip Cores personal definitions of camp, seen from the inside. His savagely witty depicts of more than two centuries of camp find it embodied in personalities and places, objects and artefacts. He has written a Whos Who and a Whats What of camp, a deceptively descriptive and factual lexicon, allowing the reader to build up a kaleidoscopic picture of camp through the ages. It is complemented with 150 rare and stunning photographs and a vivacious foreword by Englands foremost authority on surrealism, eccentric behaviour and hats - jazz singer George Melly.