Telling Tales
A History of Literary Hoaxes
- Paperback
336 pages
- Release Date
24 September 2009
Summary
When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic ‘Heraclides is ignorant of letters’) to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker.…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781849010801 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1849010803 |
| Author: | Melissa Katsoulis |
| Publisher: | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Imprint: | Constable |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 336 |
| Release Date: | 24 September 2009 |
| Weight: | 296g |
| Dimensions: | 196mm x 137mm x 22mm |
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Critics Review
A brisk, breezy and hugely entertaining survey of literary hoaxes over the past couple of centuries.– Financial Times
Hugely enjoyable: amusing, literate, learned and perceptive … Katsoulis is a wonderfully wise and witty cicerone through the luxuriant jungles of literary fraudulence. Telling Tales is a delight from start to finish, right down to the cheeky cover. - Sunday Times
This lively entertaining volume gallops through the centuries, taking in misery memoirs, pretend nuns and the Priory of Sion conspiracy. It leaves you reeling at some people’s gullibility. - Daily TelegraphKatsoulis revels in highlighting the most ridiculous details of the hoaxes and is especially good at showing how they suddenly took on a life of their own and escaped their creator’s clutches. - Sunday TelegraphHighly entertaining. - Good Book GuideIrresistible … lots to enjoy. - Wood & ValeRiveting. - Daily MailA joy to read. - The Independent on SundayA brisk, breezy and hugely entertaining survey of literary hoaxes over the past couple of centuries. - Financial TimesAbout The Author
Melissa Katsoulis
Melissa Katsoulis is a journalist and writer. She has written for The Times, where she also worked on the books desk, the Sunday Telegraph, the Financial Times, The Tablet and the Ham and High. She lives in London.
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