Revision as of 18:09, 5 January 2016 editTheBlinkster (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users10,473 editsm Correct a misspelled wikilink← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 04:14, 19 January 2025 edit undoMoriwen (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, New page reviewers28,061 edits recent years: when? | ||
(58 intermediate revisions by 38 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Type of literary forgery}} | |||
⚫ | {{Use dmy dates|date= |
||
{{Redirect|Fake journal|academic periodicals of dubious reputation|Predatory journal}} | |||
⚫ | |||
{{More citations needed|date=August 2024}} | |||
⚫ | {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} | ||
'''Fake memoirs''' form a category of ] in which a wholly or partially fabricated ], ] or ] of an individual is presented as fact. In some cases, the purported author of the work is also a fabrication. | |||
⚫ | In recent years,{{when|date=January 2025}} there have been a number of such memoirs published by major publishers, some that were well received critically and became best-sellers, that have subsequently proven to have been partially or completely fabricated. A number of recent fake memoirs fall into the category of "]", where the authors claim to have overcome overwhelming losses (i.e. bereavement, abuse, addiction, and poverty). Several more have detailed fabricated stories of ] survival, with at least one having been penned by an actual Holocaust victim. | ||
⚫ | As a result of |
||
⚫ | As a result of recent best-selling memoirs having been outed for falsification, there have been calls for stronger vetting and ] of an author's material.<ref>"Lies and Consequences: Tracking the Fallout of (Another) Literary Fraud", ''The New York Times'', 2008-03-05, p. B1. See also "A Family Tree of Literary Fakers," ''The New York Times'', 2008-03-08, p. A17.</ref> | ||
==Public reception== | ==Public reception== | ||
A number of fake memoirs in recent years have been published by renowned publishing houses and received critical acclaim only to be exposed as partial or complete fabrications. ''Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood'' (Binjamin Wilkomirski), ''The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams'' (Nasdijj),<ref name="powells.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.powells.com/biblio/18-9780345453891-1|title=The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping ,Nasdijj, 9780345453891 |
A number of fake memoirs in recent years have been published by renowned publishing houses and received critical acclaim only to be exposed as partial or complete fabrications. ''Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood'' (]), ''The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams'' (]),<ref name="powells.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.powells.com/biblio/18-9780345453891-1|title=The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping ,Nasdijj, 9780345453891 – Powell's Books|author=Nasdijj|date=5 March 2009}}</ref> ''Love and Consequences'' (]),<ref name="search.barnesandnoble.com">{{cite web|url=http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-and-Consequences/Margaret-B-Jones/e/9781594489778|title=Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival|author=Barnes & Noble|work=Barnes & Noble|access-date=12 February 2010|archive-date=7 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607072557/http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Love-and-Consequences/Margaret-B-Jones/e/9781594489778|url-status=dead}}</ref> and '']'' (Anonymous)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/07/archives/childrens-books-what-do-yas-read.html|title=Childrens Books|last=Schott|first=Webster|date=1972-05-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-05-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> garnered praise from '']'' before exposed as false. ''Love and Consequences'' (Margaret Seltzer) and ''Odd Man Out'' (Matt McCarthy) were published by ]. ''A Million Little Pieces'' was published by ]. | ||
Two authors of recent fake memoirs, ] (''A Million Little Pieces''), and ] (who was featured before he wrote '']''), as well as an imposter assuming the name ] (''A Rock and a Hard Place''), appeared on '']''. All eventually had their mendacity made public, and the scheduled publication of Rosenblat's book was cancelled. Frey, accompanied by his editor Nan Talese, was confronted by Oprah during a follow-up episode.<ref name="truthiness">{{cite news | last =Carr | first =David | title =How Oprahness Trumped Truthiness |work=The New York Times | date =30 January 2006 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/business/media/30carr.html?ex=1296277200&en=1c0e8843da5b43d6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss | accessdate =2007-10-05 }}</ref> The controversy over falsified memoirs inspired ] to write a satiric novel, ''Daddy – An Absolutely Authentic Fake Memoir'' (2008).{{cn|date=August 2024}} | |||
There is also the case of people who build up a public profile as a survivor of a disastrous event, with the intention of drawing attention and profiting from it. Some of these have achieved publishing deals with major publishers; for example, ] had lucrative deals with Penguin and Simon & Schuster, before her story of self-cure from cancer was shown to be false. | |||
==List of fake memoirs and journals== | ==List of fake memoirs and journals== | ||
{{main|List of fake memoirs and journals}} | |||
<!--'''(Most recent first.)'''--> | |||
*Matt McCarthy, '']'' ] (a division of ]) (February 2009) is a memoir describing McCarthy's summer as a minor league pitcher. He writes about playing with racist teammates who take steroids; however, statistics from that season, combined with transaction listings and interviews with former teammates, suggest that much of the book is false. Prior to having its authenticity challenged, the book was promoted by '']''. Carolyn Coleburn, the publisher's vice president and director of publicity said, “We rely on our authors to tell the truth and fact-check.”<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/sports/baseball/03book.html | work=The New York Times | title=Errors Cast Doubt on a Baseball Memoir | first1=Benjamin | last1=Hill | first2=Alan | last2=Schwarz | date=3 March 2009 | accessdate=2010-05-02}}</ref> | |||
*], '']'' (February 2009, cancelled), is a Holocaust memoir in which the author invented the story that, while he was imprisoned in the ], a young girl from the outside would pass him food through the fence daily and years later they accidentally met and married. Rosenblat appeared twice on '']''. Prior to the book's announced publication, Winfrey called the story "the single greatest love story, in 22 years of doing this show, we've ever told on the air." The book was scheduled for publication in February 2009 by ], a division of ], but has been cancelled. Although the author fabricated details about how he met his wife, he is an authentic holocaust survivor.<ref name="MSNBC">{{cite news | title=Publication of disputed Holocaust memoir canceled | date=27 December 2008 | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28391083/ | work=] | accessdate=2008-12-28}}</ref> | |||
* ] (pseud. ]), ''],'' ] (a division of ]) (2008), a critically received memoir of a girl, part white and part native American, growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child in a world of drug dealers and gang members. In fact, the work was completely fabricated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/books/04fake.html|title=Gang Memoir, Turning Page, Is Pure Fiction|date=4 March 2008|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Prior to being exposed as fabricated, the book was praised as "humane and deeply affecting" by ] of '']''.<ref name="search.barnesandnoble.com"/> | |||
*] (pseud. ]) published a number of fabricated writings (c. 2005) in which LeRoy was presented as a transgender, sexually questioning, abused, former homeless teenage drug addict and male prostitute. | |||
* ], ''],'' ] (a division of ]) (2003), a best selling memoir in which the author created and exaggerated significant details of his drug addiction and recovery. The author appeared on '']'', and in September 2005, the book became an ] selection. However, when the book's authenticity was called into question, the author and publisher Nan Talese were invited back and publicly scolded by Winfrey in a live face-to-face confrontation. The media feasted over the televised showdown. ] of the ''New York Times'' wrote, "Both Mr. Frey and Ms. Talese were snapped in two like dry winter twigs."<ref name="truthiness"/> "Oprah annihilates Frey," proclaimed Larry King.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/01/lkl.01.html | work=CNN | accessdate=2010-05-02 | title=CNN.com}}</ref> ''New York Times'' columnist ] wrote, "It was a huge relief, after our long national slide into untruth and no consequences, into ] and swift bucks, into ].'s delusion and denial, to see the Empress of Empathy icily hold someone accountable for lying,"<ref name="bunk">{{cite news | last =Dowd | first =Maureen | coauthors = | title =Oprah's Bunk Club | pages = | language = |work=The New York Times | date =8 January 2006 | url =http://homepage.mac.com/imfalse/chapel_annex/oprahs_bunk_club.html | accessdate =2007-10-05 }}</ref> and the '']'''s ] was so impressed by the confrontation that he crowned Winfrey "Mensch of the Year."<ref>{{cite news | last = Poniewozik | first =James | coauthors = | title =Oprah Clarifies Her Position: Truth, Good. Embarrassing Oprah, Very Bad | pages = | language = |work=Time | date =26 January 2006 | url =http://time-blog.com/tuned_in/2006/01/oprah_clarifies_her_position_t.html | accessdate =2007-10-05 }}</ref> | |||
*], '']'' (also published as ''Honor Lost'' in the United States), ], Australia (2003); ], New York (2003), is the supposed story of her best friend in Jordan, Dalia, who fell in love with a Christian soldier. Dalia's Muslim father was not told of the relationship, and when he eventually discovered it, he stabbed Dalia to death in a so-called honor killing. | |||
* ] (actually ]) wrote ''The Honored Society'', ] (2001). The book, supposedly by the grandson of Mafioso ], described his life as a gangster, including spending 12 years in prison for bribery, gambling, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, murder and pimping. Carlo Gambino’s ''real'' son, Thomas Gambino, exposed the fraud, and the publisher withdrew the book. | |||
*] (pseud. ]), wrote '']'', ] (2000), '']'' (2003), and '']'' (2004). These works recounted various aspects of the author's supposed life, including his Navajo heritage, his self-destructive and abusive parents, his unhappy childhood as a migrant worker, his dysfunctional relationships with other family members, and, eventually, his growing up to become the nurturing father of first an adopted child with fetal alcohol syndrome and then one who is HIV-positive. Prior to being exposed as fabricated, ''The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams'' was a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist for the ], and winner of the ]. It was described by '']'' as an "authentic, important book...Unfailingly honest and very nearly perfect."<ref name="powells.com"/> | |||
* ] (real name: Monique de Wael),'' ],'' Mt. Ivy Press (1997), a fabricated memoir of a supposed Holocaust survivor who walked 1,900 miles across Europe searching for her parents, killed a German officer in self-defense and lived with a pack of wolves. The work was a best seller, translated into 18 languages and was made into a movie.<ref> See also </ref> | |||
*], ], ] (US edition, 1996), an acclaimed but fabricated Holocaust memoir.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.othervoices.org/2.1/salecl/wilkomirski.html|title=Other Voices 2.1 (February 2000), Renata Salecl | |||
"Why One Would Pretend to be a Victim of the Holocaust"|publisher=}}</ref> Prior to being exposed as fabricated, The New York Times called the book "stunning," the Los Angeles Times described it as a "classic first-hand account of the Holocaust", it received the 1996 National Jewish Book Award for Autobiography and Memoir, in Britain it received the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize, and in France it was awarded the Prix Memoire de la Shoah.<ref></ref><ref>Peskin, Harvey (19 April 1999). , ''The Nation''</ref> | |||
* ] (pseud. ]), wrote '']'', ], Australia (1994). Presented as a supposedly autobiographical story of a student’s discovery of her family's bleak wartime history as peasants in Ukraine under Stalinism and their “liberation” by the Nazi invasion. The book won a number of awards. | |||
*] wrote ''A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy's Triumphant Story'', ], New York; ], London (1993), a story of a young boy, sexually abused by his parents and later adopted, who discovers he is HIV-positive and who develops AIDS. This book has been challenged on a number of accounts and has been alleged to be the fictional product of ], also known as Vicki Fraginals Zackheim. "Tony," the subject of the book, made an "appearance" on the Oprah Winfrey Show, interviewed with his face obscured.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radfordreviews.com/excerpt_four.html|title=Excerpt Four: Revealing a Literary Hoax: The Strange Case of Anthony Godby Johnson |publisher=}}</ref> | |||
*] wrote ''Mutant Message Down Under'', MM Co. (self-published), Lees Summit, Missouri (1991); ], New York (1994). The book claimed to be a memoir of her time spent with Aboriginals. The book has caused protests by Aboriginal groups. Parts of it have been asserted to be invented, and the publisher has reissued it labeled as fiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quanta-gaia.org/reviews/books/mutantMessage.html|title=Mutant Message Down Under|publisher=}}</ref><ref></ref> | |||
*] (actually ]) wrote ''Satan's Underground'', ], Oregon (1988), purporting to tell a true story of her upbringing in a Satanic cult, but later branded as fabricated. She later assumed the guise of a Holocaust survivor and adopted the alias of Laura Grabowski. | |||
* ] forged ''The ]'' in 1983. When first published in the '']'', the diaries were authenticated by the historian ], but they were demonstrated to be crude fakes, written on modern paper, within a few weeks. | |||
*] wrote ''In his Image: the Cloning of a Man'', ], Philadelphia and New York (1978),<ref>{{cite book |last1= Rorvik |first1= David Michael |last2= |first2= |authorlink2= |title= In his Image: The Cloning of a Man|year= 1978 |origyear= |publisher= J. B. Lippincott |location= ] and ] |isbn= 978-0-397-01255-8}} The author (Rorvik) intentionally left the word "his" uncapitalized in the title of this book. See ]</ref> in which he claimed to have been part of a successful endeavor to create a clone of a human being. A court, in a defamation suit found the book was a hoax which the publisher subsequently acknowledged, but Rorvik continues to maintain it is truthful.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/cloning.html|title=The Cloning of a Man|publisher=}}</ref> | |||
*Forrest Carter (pseud. ]), '']'', ] (1976). An acclaimed book about growing up among the Cherokee Indians, in fact fiction written by a former white supremacist.<ref></ref> | |||
*], ''The Autobiography of ]'', ] (1972). A fabricated autobiography of the reclusive billionaire. | |||
*Anonymous (actually ]), ''],'' ] (1971), purportedly the diary of an anonymous teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in the late 1960s. Sparks is known for producing a number of books purporting to be the "real diaries" of troubled teenagers.<ref></ref> Prior to the book's authenticity being challenged, The '']'' praised it as an "extraordinary work for teenagers" and "a document of horrifying reality and literary quality".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> | |||
*] wrote a series of books that describe his training in traditional Mesoamerican shamanism, starting with ''],'' University of California Press (1968). His 12 books have sold more than 8 million copies in 17 languages. It is disputed whether his stories are truthful or fabricated. | |||
*] '']'' (1951). Supposedly written in 1889 or early 1890 during Nietzsche's stay in a mental asylum, this fictitious biography makes several bold and otherwise unreported claims, most notably of an incestuous relationship between Nietzsche and his sister. | |||
*John Knyveton ''The Diary of a Surgeon in the Year 1751-1752'', edited and transcribed by Ernest Gray, New York, ] (1938). ''Surgeon's Mate: the diary of John Knyveton, surgeon in the British fleet during the Seven Years War 1756-1762'', edited and transcribed by Ernest Gray, London, Robert Hale (1942). ''Man midwife; the further experiences of John Knyveton, M.D., late surgeon in the British fleet, during the years 1763-1809'', edited and narrated by Ernest Gray, London, Robert Hale (1946). These three diaries were well received when published but doubts were later raised about their authenticiy. They are now known to be fictitious, written by Ernest Gray and loosely based on a short biography of ], 1733-1815. <ref>Evans, Martin H. & Hooper, Geoffrey: "Three misleading diaries: John Knyveton MD - from naval surgeon's mate to man-midwife." </ref><ref>Hooper, Geoffrey: </ref><ref>Eugene L. Rasor, English/British Naval History to 1815: A Guide to the Literature (2004) p. 226.</ref> | |||
*]'s ''Cradle of the Deep'' (1929), published by ]. Lowell claimed that, before she was even a year old, her sea captain father took her away from her ailing mother to live on the Minnie A. Caine, a trading ship. She lived on the ship, with its all male crew, until she was 17. The book ends with the ship burning and sinking off Australia, and with Lowell swimming three miles to safety, with a family of kittens clinging by their claws to her back. In fact, Lowell had been on the ship, which remained safe in California, for only 15 months. The book was a sensational best seller until it was exposed as a pure invention.<ref>{{cite news | first=Anne |last= Colby |title=Meet the grandmother of memoir fabricators | date=14 March 2008 | url= | |||
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/14/entertainment/et-cradle14 | |||
|work=Los Angeles Times | accessdate=2008-12-31}}</ref> | |||
* ] (actually Sylvester Clark Long) wrote an autobiography entitled ''Long Lance'' (1928), published by Cosmopolitan Book Company, in which he claimed to have been born a ], son of a chief, in Montana's ], was wounded eight times in ] and promoted to the rank of captain. In fact, the story was fabricated and Lance was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. | |||
* Abel Fosdyk (likely A. Howard Linford), ], published in '']'', 1913. An almost certainly fabricated story, in diary form, of the mystery of the abandoned ], written by a supposed passenger. | |||
* ] wrote ''China Under the Empress Dowager: being the History of the Life and Times of Tzu Hsi, Compiled from State Papers and the Private Diary of the Comptroller of her Household,'' London, ]; Philadelphia, ] (1910). The diary on which the book was based was later shown to have been fabricated by Backhouse. | |||
*Philip Aegidius Walshe (actually Montgomery Carmichael), ''The Life of John William Walshe, F.S.A.'', London, Burns & Oates, (1901); New York, ] (1902), a son’s story of his father’s life in Italy as “a profound mystic and student of everything relating to St. Francis of Assisi.” In fact the son, the father, and the memoir were all invented by Montgomery Carmichael.<ref>(1 September 1906). </ref> | |||
*], ''Col. Crockett's exploits and adventures in Texas: wherein is contained a full account of his journey from Tennessee to the Red River and Natchitoches, and thence across Texas to San Antonio; including many hair-breadth escapes; together with a topographical, historical, and political view of Texas ... Written by Himself'', T.K. and P.G. Collins, Philadelphia (1836). Supposedly Crockett’s journal taken at the Alamo by Mexican ] and then recovered at the ], but in fact written by ] and Charles T. Beale.<ref>Howes, US-IANA, S654</ref> The work has been called "ingenious pseudo-autobiography."<ref>Richard R. Flores, ''Remembering the Alamo : Memory, Modernity, and the Master Symbol'', Univ. of Texas (2002), p. 139.</ref> | |||
*] ''Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk: as Exhibited in a Narrative of Her Sufferings During a Residence of Five Years as a Novice, and Two Years as a Black Nun, in the Hôtel-Dieu Nunnery at Montreal'', Howe & Bates, New York (1836). The book is a wildly sensationalistic story of life in a Montreal convent where nuns were forced to have sex with the priests in the seminary next door. The book may have been written by Theodore Dwight, John J. Slocum or William K. Hoyte.<ref>''New York Herald'', 1836-08-12, p.2, col. 1 ; The Colophon, pt. 17, 1934.</ref> | |||
*], ''The Long Walk'', is a false narrative derived from a true story told at last by a survivor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.polishnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=852%3Athe-greatest-escape-war-hero-who-walked-4000-miles-from-siberian-death-camp&catid=93%3Ahistoriapolish-history&Itemid=329|title=The Greatest Escape - war hero who walked 4,000 miles from Siberian death camp|publisher=}}</ref> | |||
*], ''Sleepers'', contains a few real names and places with events lifted from other works or entirely fictionalized.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1996/11/03/1996-11-03_he_must_have_been_a_pretenda.html | location=New York | work=Daily News | deadurl=yes}} {{Dead link|date=December 2011|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref> | |||
*]'s ''Child P.O.W.―A Memoir of Survival'' (three self-published US editions, 2007, 2008 and 2011), about a mother and child’s experience as internees in Japanese captivity in the Philippines during the Second World War, has been exposed as a fabricated account.<ref>J. Michael Houlahan, “Fiction as Fact: False Memories of WWII in the Philippines”, ''Asia-Pacific Social Science Review'' (De La Salle University, Manila) 10:2 (2010), pp. 83–86.</ref><ref>Sascha Weinzheimer Jansen, Philippine Scouts Heritage Website, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1271251020</ref> Finch is the pen name of A. L. Peeples of Lakewood, WA. Also, the University of Puget Sound published a cover profile of Finch / Peeples in the Autumn 2009 edition of its alumni magazine ''Arches'' but later removed that edition from its website. | |||
* ] (''nom de plume''),''Tamil Tigress'' (Allen & Unwin, 2011). The authenticity of de Soyza’s autobiography has been substantially questioned. It is considered a counterfeit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://groundviews.org/2011/11/19/outing-a-counterfeit-guerrilla-a-tale-of-lies-by-tamil-tigress-niromi-de-soyza/|title=Outing a Counterfeit Guerrilla: A tale of lies by Tamil Tigress Niromi de Soyza|work=Groundviews}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://groundviews.org/2011/08/31/forbidden-fruits-niromi-de-soyzas-tamil-tigress-noumi-kouri-and-helen-demidenko/|title=Forbidden Fruits: Niromi de Soyza’s “Tamil Tigress”, Noumi Kouri and Helen Demidenko?|work=Groundviews}}</ref> | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
*] | |||
*] | *] | ||
*] | *] | ||
Line 90: | Line 30: | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fake Memoirs}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Fake Memoirs}} | ||
] | |||
] | ] |
Latest revision as of 04:14, 19 January 2025
Type of literary forgery "Fake journal" redirects here. For academic periodicals of dubious reputation, see Predatory journal.This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Fake memoir" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Fake memoirs form a category of literary forgery in which a wholly or partially fabricated autobiography, memoir or journal of an individual is presented as fact. In some cases, the purported author of the work is also a fabrication.
In recent years, there have been a number of such memoirs published by major publishers, some that were well received critically and became best-sellers, that have subsequently proven to have been partially or completely fabricated. A number of recent fake memoirs fall into the category of "misery lit", where the authors claim to have overcome overwhelming losses (i.e. bereavement, abuse, addiction, and poverty). Several more have detailed fabricated stories of Holocaust survival, with at least one having been penned by an actual Holocaust victim.
As a result of recent best-selling memoirs having been outed for falsification, there have been calls for stronger vetting and fact checking of an author's material.
Public reception
A number of fake memoirs in recent years have been published by renowned publishing houses and received critical acclaim only to be exposed as partial or complete fabrications. Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood (Binjamin Wilkomirski), The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams (Nasdijj), Love and Consequences (Margaret Seltzer), and Go Ask Alice (Anonymous) garnered praise from The New York Times before exposed as false. Love and Consequences (Margaret Seltzer) and Odd Man Out (Matt McCarthy) were published by Penguin Group USA. A Million Little Pieces was published by Random House.
Two authors of recent fake memoirs, James Frey (A Million Little Pieces), and Herman Rosenblat (who was featured before he wrote Angel at the Fence), as well as an imposter assuming the name Anthony Godby Johnson (A Rock and a Hard Place), appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. All eventually had their mendacity made public, and the scheduled publication of Rosenblat's book was cancelled. Frey, accompanied by his editor Nan Talese, was confronted by Oprah during a follow-up episode. The controversy over falsified memoirs inspired Andrea Troy to write a satiric novel, Daddy – An Absolutely Authentic Fake Memoir (2008).
There is also the case of people who build up a public profile as a survivor of a disastrous event, with the intention of drawing attention and profiting from it. Some of these have achieved publishing deals with major publishers; for example, Belle Gibson had lucrative deals with Penguin and Simon & Schuster, before her story of self-cure from cancer was shown to be false.
List of fake memoirs and journals
Main article: List of fake memoirs and journalsSee also
References
- "Lies and Consequences: Tracking the Fallout of (Another) Literary Fraud", The New York Times, 2008-03-05, p. B1. See also "A Family Tree of Literary Fakers," The New York Times, 2008-03-08, p. A17.
- Nasdijj (5 March 2009). "The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping ,Nasdijj, 9780345453891 – Powell's Books".
- Barnes & Noble. "Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival". Barnes & Noble. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- Schott, Webster (7 May 1972). "Childrens Books". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- Carr, David (30 January 2006). "How Oprahness Trumped Truthiness". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2007.