Fake memoirs form a category of

literary forgery Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir ...

in which a wholly or partially fabricated

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

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 The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

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 A fact is a true datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means. For e ...

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 ''Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood'' is a 1995 book, whose author used the pseudonym Binjamin Wilkomirski, which purports to be a memoir of the Holocaust. It was debunked by Swiss journalist and writer in August 1998. The subsequent di ...

), ''The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams'' ( Nasdijj), ''Love and Consequences'' (

Margaret Seltzer Margaret Seltzer (pseudonymously Margaret B. Jones, born 1975) is an American author who is notable for writing a fake memoir about growing up in South Central Los Angeles in February 2008. The book, entitled ''Love and Consequences: A Memoir of ...

), and ''

Go Ask Alice ''Go Ask Alice'' is a 1971 book about a teenage girl who develops a drug addiction at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of self-destructive escapism. Attributed to "Anonymous", the book is in diary form, and was originally presented ...

'' (Anonymous) garnered praise from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' before exposed as false. ''Love and Consequences'' (Margaret Seltzer) and ''Odd Man Out'' (Matt McCarthy) were published by

Penguin Group USA Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...

. ''A Million Little Pieces'' was published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. Two authors of recent fake memoirs,

James Frey James Christopher Frey ( ; born September 12, 1969) is an American writer and businessman. His first two books, '' A Million Little Pieces'' (2003) and '' My Friend Leonard'' (2005), were bestsellers marketed as memoirs. Large parts of the stor ...

(''A Million Little Pieces''), and

Herman Rosenblat Herman A. Rosenblat ( 1929 – February 5, 2015) was a Polish-born American author, known for writing a fictitious Holocaust memoir titled ''Angel at the Fence'',Rosenblat, Herman (2009) ''Angel at the Fence'' Berkley Hardcover, purporting ...

(who was featured before he wrote ''

Angel at the Fence ''Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived'', written by Herman Rosenblat, was a fictitious Holocaust memoir purporting to tell the true story of the author's reunion with, and marriage to, a girl who had passed him food throu ...

''), as well as an imposter assuming the name Anthony Godby Johnson (''A Rock and a Hard Place''), appeared on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

''. 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 Annabelle Natalie Gibson (born 8 October 1991) is an Australian health fraudster, former influencer and pseudoscience advocate. She is the author of ''The Whole Pantry'' mobile app and its later companion cookbook. Throughout her career as a w ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fake Memoirs Literary forgeries

Public reception

List of fake memoirs and journals

See also

References