Literary forgery (also literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) refers to writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or a purported memoir presented as genuine.
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The common, or popularly known, instance of literary forgery may involve for example the work of a famous author whose writings have an established intrinsic, as well as monetary, value. In the attempt to gain the rewards of such a reputation, the forger often engages in two distinct activities. The forger must produce a writing which resembles the style of the known reputable author to whom the fake is to be attributed. However, that is not necessarily sufficient. The forger also may or may not fake the physical alleged original manuscript. This is rare, as it requires a great deal of technical effort: this is often done by imitating the ink and paper, and other materials if possible. The effect is in the physical result; the forger can thereby say not just that the style of writing is the same, but also that ink and paper is of the kind or type used by the famous author. Other common types of literary forgery may be based on potential historical cachet and novelty of a previously undiscovered author.
Literary forgery has long history: Onomacritus (c. 530 - 480 BCE) is among the most ancient known literary forgers. One of the longest lasting literary forgeries is by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite a 5-6th century Syrian mystical writer who claimed to be a disciple of Paul the Apostle. Five hundred years later Abelard expressed doubts about the authorship, but it was not until after the Renaissance that there was general agreement that the attribution of the work was false. In the intervening thousand years the writings had much theological influence.
Literary forgery was promoted as a creative method by Charles Nodier, and in the 19th century many writers produced literary forgeries under his influence, notably Prosper Merimee and Pierre Louys.
The English Mercurie appeared to be the first English newspaper when it was discovered in 1794 - an account of the English battle with the Spanish Armada of 1588, but was in fact written by the second Earl of Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, in the 18th century as a literary game with some friends.
The genre of false and deceptive autobiography or fake memoirs has seen the rise of misery lit books, where the author has claims having suffered illness, abuse, drugs and so on during their upbringing. A recent example is a story about Los Angeles where a young girl was raised in a gangland culture involving drugs, forced sex and criminality. The author, Margaret Seltzer has been exposed as a fraud by her elder sister. In fact she lives a middle-class life without trauma, and received a good education (which also included a course in creative writing). Penguin Riverside has withdrawn the book and canceled a book tour.