Literary Hoaxes - The Art of the Prank

April 10, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #9: Plagiarism Anxiety Syndrome

Here’s the ninth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #9: Plagiarism Anxiety Syndrome
By W.J. Elvin III
April 10, 2009

A fistful of dollars Cheats and liars. They make life interesting, and they hold up a mirror for those of us poised to cast the first stone.

And they can make you wonder, where did I miss out? Where do these smart, crooked people get their tricks? How did I happen to miss the courses in how to pick the pockets of the stocks-and-bonds crowd?

Maybe there are no courses, just a mindset.

Used to be, the higher education mindset was reflected in lofty phrases like “Civium in moribus re publicae salus.” That’s the University of Florida’s motto: “The welfare of the state depends upon the morals of the people.”

What’s Latin for “Screw You Jack, I Got Mine”?

Cheating and lying have to incubate somewhere. Even if there’s no “Advanced Financial Scamming” course offered on campus, there’s likely a climate of corruption. Do a search for “suspected plagiarism” and see for yourself.

The incredible assortment of regulations, rules, policies and procedures demonstrate that these institutions of higher learning suffer from Plagiarism Anxiety Syndrome. Continue reading “LiteratEye #9: Plagiarism Anxiety Syndrome”

April 3, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #8: Categorizing Castaneda

Here’s the eighth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #8: Categorizing Castaneda
By W.J. Elvin III
April 3, 2009

461707139_7b2160a8ba_o-200 This column was going to be a subjective list of the top twenty false memoirs of the modern era, but I got sidetracked thinking about that man of mystery and mischief, Carlos Castaneda.

Literary detectives tend to lump Castaneda in with fakers like James Frey, J.T. Leroy, Norma Khouri and various other fraudsters and hoaxers. Some have been “featured artists” in this column and others are backstage awaiting their cue.

The slippery standard they are judged by is “authenticity.” The way the critics see it is that if you say your book is true, well, then it shouldn’t be a big stinking heap of bullshit.

On the other hand, you have those appalled by “radical individualism,” their contention being that if there is cultural truth in the book then it’s not a con. Those waters get awfully deep and theoretical.

At a depth I can handle, the debate is about whether to judge Castaneda as a scholarly anthropologist obliged to operate within certain narrow professional standards. Continue reading “LiteratEye #8: Categorizing Castaneda”

March 27, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #7: Faux Poe

Here’s the seventh installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #7: Faux Poe
By W.J. Elvin III
March 27, 2009

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. If you keep track of these things, you’re no doubt amazed at the creative ways people find to connect to the master of the macabre. The calendar is cluttered with related events put on by institutions, communities and individuals nationwide.

Poe offers a goldmine of opportunities for those intrigued by literary fraud, hoaxes, mystifications and riddles. He left behind many puzzles to be solved, in his writing and in how he lived his brief life. For instance, he fought many back-and-forth battles over plagiarism, sometimes the accused and sometimes the accuser. On the other side of it, his fame made him a magnet for forgers, pranksters, satirists and others hitching a ride on his star.

In prowling old literary magazines, an avocation which no doubt fills endless hours of your leisure time, you can hardly help but notice how often others imitated Poe’s style. Digging into it, there is quite a bit of controversy over what he wrote or didn’t write, much of it unresolved. It’s confounding how many lesser lights tried to pass off their work as that of the master. And then there’s the on-going question of how many, if any, succeeded. Continue reading “LiteratEye #7: Faux Poe”

March 20, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author

Here’s the sixth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author
By W.J. Elvin III
March 19, 2009

pastore-book In the last column there was a sort of drive-by mention of author Stephen R. Pastore and the possibility that some of his prominence and recognition as an author is self-imposed. That observation was inspired by a reporter”s challenge to him and some questions raised by Wikipedia editors regarding his credibility. So far, rather than coming to the fore in his own defense, Pastore seems to be fading deeper into the literary mists.

This is beginning to look like a story that The New York Times and Washington Post will be digging into soon. So of course I wanted The Art of the Prank Blog readers to be able to say they saw it here, some of it at any rate, first. Why haven”t the heavyweights weighed in already? Well, venturing a guess, Pastore hasn”t yet appeared on Oprah, and that, the way I”ve got it figured, is the trigger for national media attention these days. First you spoof Oprah, then you show up on big media radar.

Pastore is a winner of the Aldous Huxley Prize for literature. The prize may not ring bells of recognition with you, but it was listed on a site devoted to literary awards. However, that site has since disappeared. When you dig it out of the Internet archives, there is indeed mention such an award, but details have been scrubbed. Continue reading “LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author”

March 13, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #5: A Case of Cooked Books?

Here’s the fifth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #5: A Case of Cooked Books?
By W.J. Elvin III
March 13, 2009

A Rock and a Hard Place Scanning the big picture – a controversial book plus all the investigations and commentary over the years – well, looks to me like more red flags than at a Stalin-era May Day parade in Moscow. The book in question is the excellently written tragic autobiography of Anthony Godby Johnson, age, at the time he wrote it, 14.

“Tony” suffered from AIDS, TB, syphilis, loss of a leg, loss of a testicle, fifty or so broken bones that healed badly, and a host of other serious traumas such as forced prostitution to a celebrity sex ring. He is now reported by his adoptive father to be a happy and healthy young man in his 30s, or maybe late 20s. His story inspired a novel, TV specials and a film – mostly, it should added, from a somewhat doubting perspective.

A big problem was, and is, only one reporter of the many who have questioned the truth of the book actually saw Tony, and even that one reporter now has doubts about the glimpse she got. On the other hand, several people have signed affidavits swearing they know Tony, and still others have made the claim informally.

The book, A Rock and a Hard Place came out about fifteen years ago but has re-appeared in recent news stories due to problems faced by psychologist Marc Zackheim, the adoptive father who recently cited his experience raising Tony as a credential in applying to run a home for troubled boys on the island of Guam. He was awarded the contract, but then a government auditor on the island raised questions resulting in cancellation.

The questions come easy, the answers are another story. Continue reading “LiteratEye #5: A Case of Cooked Books?”