Literary impostors : Canadian autofiction of the early twentieth century

"In the first half of the twentieth century, a number of Canadian authors were revealed to have faked the identities that made them famous. What is extraordinary about these writers is that they actually "became," in everyday life, characters they had themselves invented. Many of their works were simultaneously fictional and autobiographical, reflecting the duality of their identities. In Literary Impostors, Rosmarin Heidenreich tells the intriguing stories, both the "true" and the fabricated versions, of six Canadian authors who obliterated their pasts and re-invented themselves: Grey Owl was in fact an Englishman named Archie Belaney; Will James, the cowboy writer from the American West, was the Quebec-born francophone Ernest Dufault; the prairie novelist Frederick Philip Grove turned out to be the German writer and translator Felix Paul Greve. Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, Onoto Watanna, and Sui Sin Far were the chosen identities of three mixed-race writers whose given names were, respectively, Sylvester Long, Winnifred Eaton, and Edith Eaton. Heidenreich argues that their imposture, in some cases not discovered until long after their deaths, was not fraudulent in the usual sense: these writers forged new identities to become who they felt they really were. In an age of proliferating cyber-identities and controversial claims to ancestry, Literary Impostors raises timely questions involving race, migrancy, and gender to illustrate the porousness of the line that is often drawn between an author's biography and the fiction he or she produces."--Source : page 4 de la couverture "The book explores the lives of six famous Canadian writers who constructed new identities for themselves, for the most part obliterating their true pasts. What makes their stories so extraordinary is that they actually lived out these self-invented identities in everyday life. Drawing on their double lives, these authors produced works that were autofictional, that is, both fictional and autobiographical. They include the Englishman Archie Belaney who became the Indian Grey Owl; Will James, the cowboy writer from the American West who was actually a Québecker called Ernest Dufault; and the German writer and translator Felix Paul Greve who remade himself as the prairie novelist Frederick Philip Grove, as well as the mixed-race writers who chose to become, respectively, Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, Onoto Watanna, and Sui Sin Far. Their imposture, in some cases not discovered until long after they had died, was nevertheless not fraudulent in the sense in which the term is usually understood. In essence, these writers reinvented themselves to become who they felt they really were. The book tells their intriguing stories - both the "true" and the invented versions - and examines how they are encoded in their literary writings, notably those they claimed to be autobiographical. These stories illustrate the porousness of the line that is often drawn between an author's biography and the fiction he or she produces. As the controversy over Canadian writer Joseph Boyden's claims of Indigenous identity demonstrates, the identitary issues raised in the book, which involve race, migrancy, and gender, are very much contemporary ones."-- Résumé de l'éditeur "The book explores the lives of six famous Canadian writers who constructed new identities for themselves, for the most part obliterating their true pasts. What makes their stories so extraordinary is that they actually lived out these self-invented identities in everyday life. Drawing on their double lives, these authors produced works that were autofictional, that is, both fictional and autobiographical. They include the Englishman Archie Belaney who became the Indian Grey Owl; Will James, the cowboy writer from the American West who was actually a Quebecker called Ernest Dufault; and the German writer and translator Felix Paul Greve who remade himself as the prairie novelist Frederick Philip Grove, as well as the mixed-race writers who chose to become, respectively, Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, Onoto Watanna, and Sui Sin Far. Their imposture, in some cases not discovered until long after they had died, was nevertheless not fraudulent in the sense in which the term is usually understood. In essence, these writers reinvented themselves to become who they felt they really were. The book tells their intriguing stories - both the "true" and the invented versions - and examines how they are encoded in their literary writings, notably those they claimed to be autobiographical. These stories illustrate the porousness of the line that is often drawn between an author's biography and the fiction he or she produces. As the controversy over Canadian writer Joseph Boyden's claims of Indigenous identity demonstrates, the identitary issues raised in the book, which involve race, migrancy, and gender, are very much contemporary ones."-- Provided by publisher The first study to offer an in-depth, systematic examination of literary imposture in Canada viewed through the lens of autofiction. The first study to offer an in-depth, systematic examination of literary imposture in Canada viewed through the lens of autofiction.