Fake memoirs is a category of literary forgery in which a wholly or partially fabricated autobiography, memoir or journal of an individual is presented as fact. for other uses see Memoir (disambiguation As a literary Genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire Literary forgery, also Literary forgeries and mystifications, pertains to some Writing, especially in Literature, such as a Manuscript, presented Often, the purported author of the work also is fabricated. In recent years, there have been a number of such memoirs published by major publishers, some of which were well received critically and even became best sellers, but which subsequently were shown to be partly or completely fabricated.

A number of recent fake memoirs fall into the category of "misery lit," where the author claims to have overcome illness, abuse, drug or alcohol addiction or other serious trauma. Misery lit ( mis lit, misery memoirs, misery porn) is a term ostensibly coined by ''The Bookseller'' magazine The genre Works in the genre Several similarly are fabricated stories of supposed Holocaust survivors. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as

As a result of the recent series of best seller memoirs that have turned out to be fabricated, there have been calls for stronger vetting of new authors and fact checking of their books. ^[1]

List of fake memoirs and journals

(In reverse chronological order. )

• Margaret B. Jones (pseud. Margaret Seltzer ( Pseudonymously Margaret B Jones (born 1975 in Sherman Oaks, California) is an American writer Margaret Seltzer), Love and Consequences, Riverhead Books (a division of Penguin Group USA) (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. Margaret Seltzer ( Pseudonymously Margaret B Jones (born 1975 in Sherman Oaks, California) is an American writer Margaret Seltzer ( Pseudonymously Margaret B Jones (born 1975 in Sherman Oaks, California) is an American writer Riverhead Books is a division of Penguin Group (USA. Notable books and major bestsellers published by Riverhead include Journals by Kurt Cobain Penguin Group is the second largest trade book Publisher in the world behind Random House. In fact, the work was completely fabricated. ^[2]

• JT LeRoy (pseud. Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy was a Pen name of American Writer Laura Albert. Laura Victoria Albert) published a number of fabricated writings (c. Laura Victoria Albert (born 1965 is the author of writings credited to the fictional teenage persona of JT LeRoy, a long-running literary Hoax in which LeRoy 2005) in which LeRoy was presented as a transgendered, sexually questioning, abused, former homeless teenage drug addict and male prostitute

• James Frey, A Million Little Pieces, Doubleday Books (2003), a best selling memoir in which the author created and exaggerated significant details of his drug addiction and recovery. James Christopher Frey (born September 12, 1969 in Cleveland Ohio) is an American Writer. A Million Little Pieces is a controversial Memoir by James Frey. The Doubleday Publishing Group is the fifth largest Book Publishing company in the world ^[3]

• Norma Khouri, Forbidden Love (also published as Honor Lost in the United States), Bantam Books, Australia (2003); Doubleday, New York (2003), is the supposed story of her best friend in Jordan, Dalia, who fell in love with a Christian soldier. Norma Khouri is the pen name of author Norma Bagain Toliopoulos (born Norma Bagain in Jordan in 1970 Bantam Books is a major US publishing house owned by Random House and is part of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group 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.

• Michael Gambino (actually Michael Pelligrino) wrote the The Honored Society, Simon & Schuster (2001). Michael Pelligrino (born 1966 is a US man who fooled US publisher Simon & Schuster to think that he was Michael Gambino, grandson of Mafioso Michael Pelligrino (born 1966 is a US man who fooled US publisher Simon & Schuster to think that he was Michael Gambino, grandson of Mafioso Simon & Schuster Inc, a division of CBS Corporation, is a Publisher founded in New York in 1924 by Richard L The book, supposedly by the grandson of Mafioso Carlo Gambino, described his life as a gangster, including spending 12 years in prison for bribery, gambling, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, murder and pimping. Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino, ( August 24, 1902 - October 15, 1976) was a Mafioso who became Boss of the Carlo Gambino’s real son, Thomas Gambino, exposed the fraud, and the publisher withdrew the book.

• Nasdijj (pseud. Nasdijj (occasionally Yinishye Nasdijj) is the name taken by the Author of three books published between 2000 and 2004 Timothy Patrick "Tim" Barrus), wrote The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams, Houghton Mifflin (2000), The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (2003), and Geronimo's Bones : A Memoir of My Brother and Me (2004). Nasdijj (occasionally Yinishye Nasdijj) is the name taken by the Author of three books published between 2000 and 2004 Nasdijj (occasionally Yinishye Nasdijj) is the name taken by the Author of three books published between 2000 and 2004 Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational Publisher in the United States. Nasdijj (occasionally Yinishye Nasdijj) is the name taken by the Author of three books published between 2000 and 2004 Nasdijj (occasionally Yinishye Nasdijj) is the name taken by the Author of three books published between 2000 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.

• Misha Defonseca (real name: Monique de Wael), Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, Mt. Misha Defonseca (born 1937 whose real name is Mishke (Levy née de Wael is a Belgian writer and the author of the previously professed memoir Misha A Mémoire Misha A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years is a book by Misha Defonseca, first published in 1997 Ivy Press (1997), a fabricated memoir of a supposed Holocaust survivor who walked 1900 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. ^[4]

• Binjamin Wilkomirski, Fragments, Shocken Books (US edition, 1996), an acclaimed but fabricated Holocaust memoir. Binjamin Wilkomirski was a name Bruno Grosjean / Dössekker (born 1941 adopted in his constructed identity as a Holocaust survivor Binjamin Wilkomirski was a name Bruno Grosjean / Dössekker (born 1941 adopted in his constructed identity as a Holocaust survivor ^[5]

• Helen Demidenko (pseud. Helen Dale (born 24 January 1972) also known as Helen Darville, is an Australian columnist and writer Helen Dale), wrote The Hand That Signed the Paper, Allen & Unwin, Australia (1994). Helen Dale (born 24 January 1972) also known as Helen Darville, is an Australian columnist and writer Helen Dale (born 24 January 1972) also known as Helen Darville, is an Australian columnist and writer Allen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. 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.

• Anthony Godby Johnson wrote A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy's Triumphant Story, Crown Books, New York; Little Brown, 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. Anthony Godby Johnson is the subject and supposed author of the 1993 Memoir A Rock and a Hard Place One Boy's Triumphant Story. The Crown Publishing Group is a Subsidiary of Random House, the world's largest book publisher Little Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner James Brown. This book has been challenged on a number of accounts and has been alleged to be the fictional product of Vicki Johnson , also known as Vicki Fraginals Zackheim.

• Marlo Morgan wrote Mutant Message Down Under, MM Co. Claims to fame Marlo Morgan (born 29 September 1937) wrote the highly controversial New-Age type book 'Mutant Message Down Under' followed by two (self-published), Lees Summit, Missouri (1991); Harper Collins, New York (1994). HarperCollins is a Publishing company owned by News Corporation. 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. ^[6]

• Lauren Stratford (actually Laurel Rose Willson) wrote Satan's Underground, Harvest House, Oregon (1988), purporting to tell a true story of her upbringing in a Satanic cult, but later branded as fabricated. Laurel Rose Willson ( August 18 1941 &ndash 8 April 2002) was an American woman born in Washington, whose allegations Laurel Rose Willson ( August 18 1941 &ndash 8 April 2002) was an American woman born in Washington, whose allegations Harvest House Publishers is Christian publishing company founded in 1974 in Eugene Oregon, United States. She later assumed the guise of a Holocaust survivor, and adopted the alias of Laura Grabowski.

• Konrad Kujau forged The Hitler Diaries in 1983. Konrad Paul Kujau ( June 27, 1938, Löbau, Saxony - September 12, 2000, Stuttgart, Germany) was In April 1983, the German news Magazine Stern published extracts from what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler, When first published in the Sunday Times, the diaries were authenticated by the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, but they were demonstrated to be crude fakes, written on modern paper, within a few weeks. The Sunday Times is a Sunday Broadsheet Newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper Baron Dacre of Glanton ( January 15, 1914 – January 26, 2003) was a British Historian

• David Rorvik wrote In His Image: the Cloning of a Man, J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia and New York (1978), in which he claimed to have been part of a successful endeavor to create a clone of a human being. David Rorvik (born 1944 in Circle Montana) is an American Journalist and Novelist who authored the 1978 book In His Lippincott Williams & Wilkins is an academic and professional medical publisher founded in 1792 and now a part of the Wolters Kluwer group 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. ^[7]

• Forrest Carter (pseud. Asa Earl Carter ( September 4, 1925 &ndash June 7, 1979) was an American speechwriter and author Asa Earl Carter), The Education of Little Tree, Delacorte Press (1976). Asa Earl Carter ( September 4, 1925 &ndash June 7, 1979) was an American speechwriter and author The Education of Little Tree is a memoir-style fictional novel written under the Pseudonym Forrest Carter by Asa Earl Carter. Dell Publishing was an American publisher of Books, Magazines, and Comic books. An acclaimed book about growing up among the Cherokee indians, in fact fiction written by a former white supremacist. ^[8]

• Clifford Irving, The Autobiograpy of Howard Hughes, McGraw-Hill (1972). Clifford Michael Irving (born November 5, 1930) is an American writer best known for an "authorized Howard Robard Hughes Jr (December 24 1905 – April 5 1976 was an American Aviator, Industrialist, Film producer / director, Philanthropist The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, ( is a Publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. A fabricated autobiography of the recluse billionaire.

• Anonymous (actually Beatrice Sparks), Go Ask Alice, Prentice-Hall (1971), purportedly the diary of an anonymous teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in the late 1960s. Beatrice Sparks (born January 15, 1918 in Goldburg Idaho) is an American Psychologist and Mormon youth counselor who is Go Ask Alice is a controversial 1971 book about the life of a troublesome teenage girl(age 14-16 she writes in the diary for about three years drug user Prentice Hall is a leading educational publisher It is an Imprint of Pearson Education Inc Sparks is known for producing a number of books purporting to be the "real diaries" of troubled teenagers.

• Carlos Castaneda wrote a series of books that describe his training in traditional Mesoamerican shamanism, starting with The Teachings of Don Juan, University of California Press (1968). Carlos Castaneda (December 25 1925 – April 27 1998 was a Peruvian born American author The Teachings of Don Juan A Yaqui Way of Knowledge was published by the University of California Press in 1968 as a work of anthropology His 12 books have sold more than 8 million copies in 17 languages. It is disputed whether his stories are truthful or fabricated.

• John Knyveton The Diary of a Surgeon in the Year 1751-1752, edited and transcribed by Ernest Gray, New York, D. Appleton-Century (1938). Appleton-Century-Crofts Inc was a division of the Meredith Publishing Company. Some believe the diary is a forgery and possibly a fictitious rehandling of the memoirs of Thomas Denman, 1733-1815. ^[9]

• Edmund Backhouse 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, Heinemann; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co. (1910). Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse 2nd Baronet ( 20 October 1873 &ndash 8 January 1944) was a British oriental scholar linguist and "black J B Lippincott & Co was an American Publishing house founded in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1836 by Joshua B 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, E. P. Dutton (1902), a son’s story of his father’s life in Italy as “a profound mystic and student of everything relating to St. E P Dutton is an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Francis of Assisi. ” In fact the son, the father and the memoir were all invented by Montgomery Carmichael. ^[10]

• Davy Crockett, Col. Colonel David Stern Crockett ( August 17, 1786 March 6, 1836) was a celebrated 19th-century American Folk hero, Crockett's exploits and adventures in Texas: wherein is contained a full account of his journey from Tennessee to the Red River and Nathchitoches, 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 General Castrillón and then recovered at the Battle of San Jacinto, but in fact written by Richard Penn Smith and Charles T. Manuel Fernández Castrillón (178?&ndash1836 was a Major general in the Mexican army of the 19th century The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Beale. ^[11] The work has been called "ingenious pseudo-autobiography. " ^[12]

• Maria Monk 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). Maria Monk ( June 27 1816 &ndash summer of 1839 was a Canadian woman who claimed to have been a Nun who had been sexually exploited 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. ^[13]

See also

• Literary forgery
• Misery lit

References

1. ^ "Lies and Consequences: Tracking the Fallout of (Another) Literary Fraud", New York Times, Mar. Literary forgery, also Literary forgeries and mystifications, pertains to some Writing, especially in Literature, such as a Manuscript, presented Misery lit ( mis lit, misery memoirs, misery porn) is a term ostensibly coined by ''The Bookseller'' magazine The genre Works in the genre 5, 2008, p. B1. See also "A Family Tree of Literary Fakers," New York Times, Mar. 8, 2008, p. A17.
2. ^ New York Times article
3. ^ Oprah's Grand Delusion
4. ^ Holocaust Book Hoax See also [1]
5. ^ Renata Salecl, Why One Would Pretend to be a Victim of the Holocaust: The Wilkomirski Memoir.
6. ^ Review by Michael Kisor
7. ^ The Cloning of a Man
8. ^ The Education of Little Tree and Forrest Carter
9. ^ Eugene L. Rasor, English/British Naval History to 1815: A Guide to the Literature (2004) p. 226. See also The Diary Research Website.
10. ^ Saturday Review of Books, September 1, 1906, p. BR537.
11. ^ Howes, US-IANA, S654
12. ^ Richard R. Flores, Remembering the Alamo : Memory, Modernity, and the Master Symbol, Univ. of Texas (2002), p. 139.
13. ^ New York Herald, Aug. 12, 1836, p. 2, col. 1 ; The Colophon, pt. 17, 1934.

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