The writer who had played a writer

In the past dozen years we have witnessed in America at least a half dozen well publicized literary and journalistic hoaxes. A common theme runs through all of them: they are made up stories presented as real life reports, of people, often children, who are drug addicts, deviants, criminals. The stories create sensations, cause faux outrage (a seven year old street drug addict?!), their authors achieve fame, make television appearances, collect accolades and cash, before the hoax is discovered.

What interests me at the moment is that the narratives that attract so much attention and glory are not some Horatio Alger fantasies of luck and success, or uplifting sagas of friendship, bravery, of overcoming insurmountable obstacles, no Count of Monte Christo, no James Fenimore Cooper, no Huckleberry Finn even, they are invariably depressing tragedies of fall, failure, life at the bottom of the gutter. When they appear in a newspaper, their purpose is purely propagandistic: we are living in a heartless, evil capitalist society, the author suggests, and why doesn't the government do something about it! And their utterly negative view of human existence is apparently what causes their popularity, drawing readers, the discreetly charming American bourgeoise. Decadence sells among the well fed.

Not surprisingly, the fairly recent hoax of JT LeRoy attracted the avant-garde of decadence and self-congratulatory compassion, the Hollywood crowd, among them Winona Ryder, Courtney Love, Carrie Fisher, Lou Reed. The young woman who played the fake author JT LeRoy (a man) is said to have had a love affair with Italian actress Asia Argento. She has now published a book of her own, and an interesting article about it and about her travails caught my attention provoking this post. (As I stay away from inspirational literature, I haven't read the JT LeRoy books, which apparently still sell copies!) Anyway, this is the story of a writer who had played a writer. Link.

Finally, here is a list of a few recent literary hoaxes (journalistic hoaxes of this type are typically hushed, as the newspapers and television want to quickly make us forget anything that undermines their credibility.)