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The difference lies in the minds and expectations of spectators, and it’s the difference between endeavor and imposture.

The people who knew Brandon look back mostly with incredulity and amusement at his imposture and extend him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his motives.

The unnamed narrator in “Portrait of an Unknown Lady,” María Gainza’s crepuscular but dreamy novel, looks back over a life led in the shadow of imposture.

This form of imposture has a pedigree — or a past, anyway.

“This doesn’t change anything in the work that we are conducting; that doesn’t change anything in the reality. It is an imposture with the Core Group and the Americans.”