Biographakers
bookretorts, how do you feel about JT Leroy? What about Alice of Go Ask Alice fame?
How about Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari or Kaycee Nicole?
If you don't know who any of these people "are", click the links and you'll discover why I just put quotes around the word are.
The short version is that they are all literary hoaxes of a specific type - the fake memoir.
Literary hoaxes aren't an invention of the modern age, of course, they've been going on for as long as there's been literature. The fake memoir isn't even all that modern. However, earlier literary hoaxes could only be carried out in specific circles; the modern era of mass communication has made it possible for a fake person to be known by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people worldwide. Amina and Kaycee were internet creations who were able to reach more people more quickly than JT could've ever imagined at the start.
Now the thing about JT, Alice, Amina, and Kaycee is that they were completely fictitious characters who were invented full by their creators as any fictional character is. That these characters were created to hoax people isn't cool, but I'm impressed by the level of detail that went into them and had their creators chosen a more honest or appropriate vehicle for them (why insist that they are "real", why not just use them as the fictional characters that they are? I mean, I don't know about you but given a choice I'd way rather be applauded for my ability to create an engaging and sympathetic character than to be pitied for having the worst life ever) I could respect them.
But what about James Frey? Norma Khouri? Misha Difonesca? Or Forrest Carter? Or anyone else on this page of fake memoirs from wiki.
What is it that drives people to lie at this level? I can almost see the challenge of creating a character that people would believe but a good literary hoax, in my opinion, is one that leaves frequent clues to its fictional nature and never goes too far. Fooling people for the sake of art is fine as far as I'm concerned but there's a line that once crossed moves you from fooler to faker and fraud. Where is that line? Well, it depends, I think. There's a world of difference between submitting a fake study to a journal in your field of study to test how thorough their review process is (many of the earlier hackers and phr3@ks had zero interest in personal gain from their activities, they were driven by genuine intellectual curiosity about how far they could go and that's that) to being Pretendian for profit.
What makes people write these fake memoirs? Profit? Fun? What do you think?
How about Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari or Kaycee Nicole?
If you don't know who any of these people "are", click the links and you'll discover why I just put quotes around the word are.
The short version is that they are all literary hoaxes of a specific type - the fake memoir.
Literary hoaxes aren't an invention of the modern age, of course, they've been going on for as long as there's been literature. The fake memoir isn't even all that modern. However, earlier literary hoaxes could only be carried out in specific circles; the modern era of mass communication has made it possible for a fake person to be known by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people worldwide. Amina and Kaycee were internet creations who were able to reach more people more quickly than JT could've ever imagined at the start.
Now the thing about JT, Alice, Amina, and Kaycee is that they were completely fictitious characters who were invented full by their creators as any fictional character is. That these characters were created to hoax people isn't cool, but I'm impressed by the level of detail that went into them and had their creators chosen a more honest or appropriate vehicle for them (why insist that they are "real", why not just use them as the fictional characters that they are? I mean, I don't know about you but given a choice I'd way rather be applauded for my ability to create an engaging and sympathetic character than to be pitied for having the worst life ever) I could respect them.
But what about James Frey? Norma Khouri? Misha Difonesca? Or Forrest Carter? Or anyone else on this page of fake memoirs from wiki.
What is it that drives people to lie at this level? I can almost see the challenge of creating a character that people would believe but a good literary hoax, in my opinion, is one that leaves frequent clues to its fictional nature and never goes too far. Fooling people for the sake of art is fine as far as I'm concerned but there's a line that once crossed moves you from fooler to faker and fraud. Where is that line? Well, it depends, I think. There's a world of difference between submitting a fake study to a journal in your field of study to test how thorough their review process is (many of the earlier hackers and phr3@ks had zero interest in personal gain from their activities, they were driven by genuine intellectual curiosity about how far they could go and that's that) to being Pretendian for profit.
What makes people write these fake memoirs? Profit? Fun? What do you think?