"Two bodies side by side, which are not asleep and know it: a strange kind of communication sets in between them, formed of respect for simulated sleep, and yet it needs to betray itself by some furtive sign -- a breathing pattern which is not that of real sleep or movements which are not those of a dreaming body. Neither, however, wants to break the spell. It is a conspiracy in the dark, an emotional conspiracy filled with delicious tension.
There has been much discussion of the uninterpretable answer to the question: 'are you lying?' But ask someone next to you, very softly as not to wake him: 'are you asleep?' If he replies that he is, then that makes him a liar. But he can reply by pretending to be asleep, which is not actually lying, but pretending to lie. There is a big difference, since this is a lovers' game. The question itself is a lovers' game because it assumes the partner is not asleep while making every effort not to wake him. Besides, these are the same questions: do you love me? are you lying to me? are you asleep? And the reply -- yes, I love you, yes, I'm lying, yes, I'm asleep -- is equally paradoxical. but it is not untruthful. It simply comes from another world which is not the truth of the first. 'Yes I'm asleep. Yes I'm lying. Yes, I love you' all these answers reflect a marvelous somnambulism and, all in all, a very clear grasp of the relations we establish with reality when we are sleeping, lying or in love."
[baudrillard, Cool Memories]
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