Telling Tales : A History of Literary Hoaxes

When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic 'Heraclides is ignorant of letters') to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker. But whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, each perpetrator represents something unique about why we write. Their stories speak volumes about how reading, writing and publishing have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into big-business, TV-book-club-led mass-marketplaces which, some would say, are ripe for the ripping. For the first time, the complete history of this fascinating sub-genre of world literature is revealed. Suitable for bookworms of all ages and persuasions, this is true crime for people who don't like true crime, and literary history for the historically illiterate. A treat to read right through or to dip into, it will make you think twice next time you slip between the covers of an author you don't know... When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic 'Heraclides is ignorant of letters') to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker. But whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, each perpetrator represents something unique about why we write. Their stories speak volumes about how reading, writing and publishing have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into big-business, TV-book-club-led mass-marketplaces which, some would say, are ripe for the ripping. For the first time, the complete history of this fascinating sub-genre of world literature is revealed. Suitable for bookworms of all ages and persuasions, this is true crime for people who don't like true crime, and literary history for the historically illiterate. A treat to read right through or to dip into, it will make you think twice next time you slip between the covers of an author you don't know .. Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1 The Eighteenth Century; William Lauder; James Macpherson; Thomas Chatterton; William Henry Ireland; 2 The Nineteenth Century; Maria Monk; The Protocols of the Elders of Zion; Vrain-Denis Lucas; Mark Twain; Sir Edmund Backhouse; 3 Native Americans; Grey Owl; Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance; Forrest Carter; Nasdijj; 4 Celebrity Testaments; The Abraham Lincoln Letters; The JFK Letters; The Autobiography of Howard Hughes; The Hitler Diaries; 5 Australia; Ern Malley; Nino Culotta; Marlo Morgan; Helen Demidenko; Norma Khouri.;When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic 'Heraclides is ignorant of letters') to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker. But whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, each perpetrator represents s. Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 The Eighteenth Century William Lauder James Macpherson Thomas Chatterton William Henry Ireland 2 The Nineteenth Century Maria Monk The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Vrain-Denis Lucas Mark Twain Sir Edmund Backhouse 3 Native Americans Grey Owl Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance Forrest Carter Nasdijj 4 Celebrity Testaments The Abraham Lincoln Letters The JFK Letters The Autobiography of Howard Hughes The Hitler Diaries 5 Australia Ern Malley Nino Culotta Marlo Morgan Helen Demidenko Norma Khouri. Wanda Koolmatrie6 Memoirs Joan Lowell Cleone Knox Beatrice Sparks Laurel Rose Willson Anthony Godby Johnson J.T. LeRoy Tom Carew Michael Gambino James Frey Margaret B. Jones 7 Post-Modern Ventriloquists Fern Gravel Araki Yasusada Andreas Karavis 8 Holocaust Memoirs Binjamin Wilkomirski Misha Levy Defonseca Herman Rosenblat 9 Religion Johannes Wilhelm Meinhold Robert Coleman-Norton Morton Smith Pierre Plantard Mark Hofmann 10 Entrapment Hoaxes Harold Witter Bynner and Arthur Davison Ficke H.L. Mencken Nicolas Bataille and Akakia Viala Jean Shepherd Mike McGrady. Romain GaryAlan Sokal Bevis Hillier William Boyd. Whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, the hoaxers in these stories demonstrate by their actions how how reading, writing and publishing have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into the mass-marketplaces of big business and TV book clubs The ultimate readers' guide to the works that fooled publishers, readers and critics the world over