Literary Impostors

Canadian Autofiction of the Early Twentieth Century

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Canadian
Cover of the book Literary Impostors by Rosmarin Heidenreich, MQUP
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Rosmarin Heidenreich ISBN: 9780773555297
Publisher: MQUP Publication: July 30, 2018
Imprint: MQUP Language: English
Author: Rosmarin Heidenreich
ISBN: 9780773555297
Publisher: MQUP
Publication: July 30, 2018
Imprint: MQUP
Language: English

In the first half of the twentieth century, a number of Canadian authors were revealed to have faked the identities that made them famous. What is extraordinary about these writers is that they actually "became," in everyday life, characters they had themselves invented. Many of their works were simultaneously fictional and autobiographical, reflecting the duality of their identities. In Literary Impostors, Rosmarin Heidenreich tells the intriguing stories, both the "true" and the fabricated versions, of six Canadian authors who obliterated their pasts and re-invented themselves: Grey Owl was in fact an Englishman named Archie Belaney; Will James, the cowboy writer from the American West, was the Quebec-born francophone Ernest Dufault; the prairie novelist Frederick Philip Grove turned out to be the German writer and translator Felix Paul Greve. Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, Onoto Watanna, and Sui Sin Far were the chosen identities of three mixed-race writers whose given names were, respectively, Sylvester Long, Winnifred Eaton, and Edith Eaton. Heidenreich argues that their imposture, in some cases not discovered until long after their deaths, was not fraudulent in the usual sense: these writers forged new identities to become who they felt they really were. In an age of proliferating cyber-identities and controversial claims to ancestry, Literary Impostors raises timely questions involving race, migrancy, and gender to illustrate the porousness of the line that is often drawn between an author's biography and the fiction he or she produces.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the first half of the twentieth century, a number of Canadian authors were revealed to have faked the identities that made them famous. What is extraordinary about these writers is that they actually "became," in everyday life, characters they had themselves invented. Many of their works were simultaneously fictional and autobiographical, reflecting the duality of their identities. In Literary Impostors, Rosmarin Heidenreich tells the intriguing stories, both the "true" and the fabricated versions, of six Canadian authors who obliterated their pasts and re-invented themselves: Grey Owl was in fact an Englishman named Archie Belaney; Will James, the cowboy writer from the American West, was the Quebec-born francophone Ernest Dufault; the prairie novelist Frederick Philip Grove turned out to be the German writer and translator Felix Paul Greve. Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, Onoto Watanna, and Sui Sin Far were the chosen identities of three mixed-race writers whose given names were, respectively, Sylvester Long, Winnifred Eaton, and Edith Eaton. Heidenreich argues that their imposture, in some cases not discovered until long after their deaths, was not fraudulent in the usual sense: these writers forged new identities to become who they felt they really were. In an age of proliferating cyber-identities and controversial claims to ancestry, Literary Impostors raises timely questions involving race, migrancy, and gender to illustrate the porousness of the line that is often drawn between an author's biography and the fiction he or she produces.

More books from MQUP

Cover of the book Twenty-First-Century Immigration to North America by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book The Risk of Education by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Ancestral Recall by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book War Memories by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Tug of War by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Carol Shields and the Extra-Ordinary by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Left and Right by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Short Histories of Light by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book The Art of the City by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Divining Margaret Laurence by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Northern Lights by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Humboldt's Mexico by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Out of the Basement by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book The al-Baqara Crescendo by Rosmarin Heidenreich
Cover of the book Performance Studies in Canada by Rosmarin Heidenreich
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy