Five
the most known hoaxes
Russian literature
Famous writers who never existed
Text: Mikhail Vizel/GodLiteratury.RF
Photo: Rene Magritte “Son of Man”
According to tradition, on April 1 it is customary to give comic news about events that did not happen and invented sensations. We decided to remind you of the five most famous Russian writers who never actually existed.
1. Ivan Petrovich Belkin
The first and most significant Russian “virtual author”, who emerged in the fall of 1830 under the pen of Pushkin.
It's not just a nickname; By writing “Belkin’s Tale,” Pushkin tried to get away from himself, a famous lyric poet and the darling of secular salons, who was also under the personal censorship of the tsar himself.
And write strictly realistic stories on behalf of a modest provincial debutant, a retired army lieutenant - for whom he came up with a biography and even completed it by declaring poor Ivan Petrovich dead.
However, Pushkin himself did not keep the secret very strictly. On the contrary, he instructed Pletnev, who was engaged in publishing stories, how to deal with booksellers: “Whisper my name to Smirdin, so that he whispers to the buyers.”
2. Kozma Prutkov
If Ivan Petrovich Belkin is the most “significant” of Russian virtual authors, then the “director of the Assay Office” is the most famous author.
And, perhaps, the most prolific. Which is not surprising, given that not one, but four people wrote “on his behalf” in the 50s and 60s of the 19th century - Count Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy and his cousins, the three Zhemchuzhnikov brothers.
“Wise thoughts” of Kozma Prutkov became proverbial:
“You cannot embrace the immensity”, “If you read the inscription on an elephant’s cage: buffalo, do not believe your eyes”,
And we often forget that they were composed as a mockery, or in modern terms - banter.
It is no coincidence that Kozma Prutkov, like another similar “piit” - Captain Lebyadkin from Dostoevsky’s “Demons”, is considered a predecessor of the poetry of the absurd and conceptualism.
3. Cherubina De Gabriac
The most romantic of Russian virtual authors. It arose in the summer of 1909 as a result of close communication (in Koktebel, freeing from conventions) of the 22-year-old anthroposophical philologist Elizaveta Dmitrieva and the already famous poet and literary figure Maximilian Voloshin.
It was he who suggested that the enthusiastic young lady, who studied medieval poetry at the Sorbonne, write poetry not in her own name (which, admittedly, is quite ordinary, like Lisa’s appearance), but in the name of a certain Russian Catholic woman with French roots.
And then he actively “promoted” the poems of the mysterious Cherubina in the editorial offices of aesthetic metropolitan magazines, with the employees of which the poetess herself communicated exclusively by phone - thereby driving them crazy.
The hoax ended quickly - when Nikolai Gumilev, who met Lisa in Paris a year earlier than Voloshin, considered that he had “stole” her from him and challenged his “rival” to a duel.
The famous “second duel on the Chernaya River,” fortunately, ended with minimal damage - Voloshin lost his galosh in the snow, after which Sasha Cherny called him “Vax Kaloshin” in one of his poems.
For Dmitrieva herself Short story Cherubina ended in a long creative and personal crisis - in 1911 she married a man who had nothing to do with poetry and went with him to Central Asia.
4. Boris Akunin
Soviet times were not very conducive to full-fledged literary hoaxes.
Literature was a matter of national importance, and no pranks were inappropriate here. (We must, however, put it in brackets complex issue about full-voiced Russian versions of the epics of the peoples of the USSR, created by disgraced capital intellectuals.)
It’s strange to remember now, but back in 2000, Grigory Chkhartishvili carefully kept the secret of his authorship, because he was embarrassed by this activity, writing entertaining retro detective stories, in front of his intellectual friends.
5. Nathan Dubovitsky
The author of the action-packed novel “Near Zero,” which caused a lot of noise in 2009, whose true face this has still not been officially disclosed - although indirect “evidence” quite eloquently points to a high-ranking representative of the Russian political establishment.
Regional scientific and practical conference for schoolchildren
Literature Research Paper
Artliterary hoaxes.
Work completed:
student of class 10 "A"
Municipal educational institution "Rudnogorskaya Sosh"
Parilova Ekaterina
and literature
Municipal educational institution "Rudnogorskaya Sosh"
Zheleznogorsk 2013
1. Introduction.
1.1. Hoax - what is it?................................................. 3
1.2. Goal and tasks. ……………………………………. 4
1.3. Hypothesis…………………………………………...4
1.4. Object of study. ……………………………....4
1.5. Subject of study. ……………………………..4
1.6. Research methods. ……………………………...4
2. Main part.
I. Literary hoax as art.
2.1.1. Why is literary hoax still not described as an independent art form?........5
2.1.2. Literary hoax is a synthetic art form. .......6
II. General principles of art literary hoax.
2.2.1. Reasons for hoaxes. ………………………7
2.2.2. Special techniques of literary hoax...8
2.2.3. Unmasking hoaxes…………………....9
III. Literary Hoaxes Revealed……….9
3. Conclusion.
4. List of used literature.
Introduction.
Hoax - what is it?
In one of the newspapers I read an article dedicated to Ilya Fonyakov’s book “Poets who were not there.” From the article I realized that this book is about literary hoaxes, the existence of which many of us do not even suspect. My previous work in literature was devoted to the Cherubina de Gabriac hoax. And since hoaxes are interesting to me, I decided to continue working on this topic.
It is necessary to clarify what literary hoax is. This is usually the name given to literary works whose authorship is deliberately attributed to some person, real or fictitious, or is presented as folk art. At the same time, literary hoax seeks to preserve the author’s stylistic style, to recreate - or create from scratch - his creative image. Hoaxes can be carried out for completely different purposes: for the sake of profit, to shame critics or in the interests of literary struggle, from the author’s lack of confidence in his abilities or for certain ethical reasons. The main difference between a hoax and, for example, a pseudonym is the fundamental self-delimitation of the real author from his own work.
Mystification has always been, to one degree or another, characteristic of literature. Strictly speaking, what is a literary work if not an attempt to convince someone - a reader, a critic, oneself - of the existence of a reality invented by the writer? Therefore, it is not surprising that not only worlds invented by someone have appeared, but also fake works and invented writers. Everyone who was guided by the desire to attribute to the author a work that he had not written, settled on creating the work and putting on it not their own names, but the name of the mentioned author. Others did not try to publish poems under own name, and always signed their names fictional characters. Still others called their poems “translations” from foreign authors. Some authors went further, becoming “foreigners” writing in Russian. I wanted to learn more about the art of literary hoaxes, I went to the library, but did not find detailed material. Then I went online and found little-known and even unique publications, on the basis of which I wrote my scientific work.
Purpose my work is: to identify the general patterns of the art of literary hoax
Tasks:
1. Find out as much information as possible about literary hoaxes.
2. Reveal the features of the art of literary hoaxes.
3. Describe the features of the art of literary hoaxes.
4. Prove that literary hoax is a synthetic art form.
5. Identify as many reasons as possible for the appearance of literary hoaxes.
6. Establish how a hoax is exposed.
7. Find as many literary hoaxes as possible.
8. Systematize the collected material.
Research hypothesis: The art of literary hoaxes is a synthetic art that has existed for a very long time and has its own laws and canons.
Object of study: Literary hoaxes.
Subject of study: Literary hoaxes as art.
Research methods:
1. Comprehensive analysis- viewing an object from different points of view.
2. Imperial method - collection of data and information about the subject of research.
3. Data processing method.
4. The induction method is a method in which a general conclusion is built on the basis of partial premises
5. Generalization method - a method in which the general properties of an object are established.
Main part.
I.Literary hoax as art.
Why is literary hoax still not described as an independent art form?
“Literary hoaxes have existed as long as literature itself.” Almost every article about literary hoaxes begins with this phrase, and it is impossible to disagree with it. As soon as books began to be published, writers appeared who wanted to play pranks on their contemporaries, and more often, on their descendants. There seems to be some kind of attractive force in “fooling” as many people as possible at the same time. “Reader, ... laugh: the height of earthly joys is to laugh at everyone from around the corner,” Pushkin wrote frankly. Of course, the reasons that pushed writers to commit hoaxes were, as a rule, more serious and deeper, but the love of humor cannot be discounted.
And here the question involuntarily comes to mind: why is literary mystification, having existed for thousands of years, still not described as an independent form of art (after all, for example, the art of war has been described - and quite thoroughly - which, like the art of mystification, is largely relies on intuition)? Most articles only tell the stories of one or another long-solved literary hoax, in best case scenario their classification is proposed based on who the literary work is attributed to: a writer, a historical person or a fictional author. Meanwhile, literary hoaxes have their own general limitations and special possibilities, their own rules and their own techniques - their own laws of the genre. Suffice it to say that in literary hoaxes the very piece of art becomes an enlarged sign with which the hoaxer operates in life - in the game, and the general opinion about this work of art is the same subject of the game as the work itself. In other words, in the “table of ranks” of this game, literary hoax is higher than the work of art itself. And this game has its own masters and losers, its own masters and even geniuses. Of course, literature is not the only art form that has misled many people; There have been hoaxers in painting and music, in archeology and cinema, and even in science. But my interests are primarily related to literature.
Literary hoax is a synthetic art form.
Is literary hoax a synthetic art form? First you need to find out what a synthetic art form is. Synthetic arts are such types artistic creativity, which represent an organic fusion or a relatively free combination of different types of art, forming a qualitatively new and unified aesthetic whole. Indeed, if in order to write a significant literary work, talent and a pen are enough ( goose feather, pencil, typewriter, computer keyboard), then the hoaxer must also have the ability to mislead a large number of people outside the process of creating a literary work. If a writer masters the art of playing in the Word, then the hoaxer must also possess the art of playing in Life, since literary hoax is a collective game played simultaneously in both life and literature. Moreover, not only those who take the hoax proposed by him at face value, but also those who are “on the side” of the hoaxer, initiated into the hoax, unwittingly take part in the game. There may be few of them, one or two people, or, as in Shakespeare’s hoax, dozens, but, with rare exceptions, they
always take place.
Thus, in Pushkin’s hoax with the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” he took a direct part, who not only brought 18-year-old Ershov to Pushkin, but also explained to the student that Pushkin, they say, did not want to put his name under “The Little Humpbacked Horse” because of an unfriendly relationship literary criticism to the genre itself literary fairy tale, which actually took place.
Moreover, hoaxers can play tricks even on those initiated into the hoax. Pletnev was deceived by Pushkin: he saw the powerful political subtext of “The Little Humpbacked Horse.” The “sovereign whale,” which blocked the “Sea-Okiyan,” obviously recalled the role of Russia in Europe, and the “thirty ships,” which he swallowed 10 years ago and does not release, clearly meant the Decembrists. Pletnev would never have taken part in this matter of bypassing the tsarist censorship, since he was a coward. Indeed, in this fairy tale, Pushkin went further than ever, “through the mouth” of a hunchbacked horse, publicly declaring that this “sovereign” state is doomed until the Decembrists are released: “If he gives them freedom, God will remove the misfortune from him.” Probably, together with Pushkin’s closest friends, there would not have been even a dozen who learned about his authorship of the fairy tale, and all subsequent generations of Russian readers, up to our time, were misled, in addition to other contemporaries, counting in the hundreds of millions.
II.General principles of the art of literary mystification.
Reasons for hoaxes:
The reasons for hoaxes are as diverse as life itself.
2. Hoaxes made by young writers in order to quickly become famous, for example, Prosper Merimee, who staged hoaxes with “Guzla and the Clara Gazul Theater.”
3. Many hoaxers were driven by political or ideological considerations, for example, the reason for hiding the names of the true authors who wrote under the pseudonym “Shakespeare” was concern for state security, since the members of the pseudonym were the secret children of Queen Elizabeth.
4.Literary mystification is often used as a means of literary struggle to expose and ridicule literary opponents. For example, a group of writers - the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers and others - in the 60s of the 19th century. published the works of Kozma Prutkov, a stupid, narcissistic official they invented, allegedly writing pompous and funny poems and aphorisms claiming special profundity. In the pompous work of Kozma Prutkov, it was easy to discern ridicule of adherents of the antisocial theory of “art for art’s sake” and parodies of the literary works of some modern writers.
5. One of the main reasons hoaxes most often there were turning points for literature and social thought of the era. In 1817-23 to support the idea national revival under the guise of a folk epic, the “Kraledvor Manuscript” and “Libushin’s Court”, lists allegedly discovered by the philologist V. Ganka, were published.
6. Reason to take literature out of the narrow channel of traditional motifs and forms
7. Personal motives. For example, one of the reasons that pushed Pushkin to immediately publish “The Little Hunchback” and to give away his the best fairy tale, there was an attempt to force the tsar to leave Natalya Nikolaevna alone, whom he openly courted: it was a warning shot. As soon as Pushkin realized that the fairy tale under the name of Ershov went unnoticed and his “personal warning” did not reach the addressee. He writes another fairy tale - “About the Golden Cockerel”, neutral from a political point of view, but with hints: about a girl who “is not afraid to know sin”, and about a king who desires to marry a young girl, as in “The Little Hunchback ", it backfired.
8. Finally, last but not least, is the reason for basic profit. There are so many examples that they need not be cited.
Special techniques of literary hoax
The study of literary hoaxes requires a special approach, not only due to the lack of documentary evidence, but also because hoaxers also use special, non-generally accepted literary - and not only - techniques; Here are the most used:
1. By publishing hoax works under a pseudonym, they can substitute the authorship of an existing, living person - be it the semi-literate moneylender Shakespeare, the 18-year-old student Ershov or the 17-year-old youth Rimbaud - which at first misleads readers, but over time becomes one of clues to unravel the hoax.
2. One of the common methods of hoaxing is changing the date of writing of the work; So Pushkin put “reference” dates under some poems, and changing the date of Chester’s collection delayed for a long time its solution as dedicated to the death of the true Shakespeare.
3. Hoaxers often use wordplay as a hoax technique, playing with ambiguities both in a literary work that mystifies the public and in life. This is especially true for Shakespeare and Pushkin.
4. Hoaxers often use the transfer of the role of narrator to the characters of their works, and thereby radically change their meaning, which turns out to be understood only many years later.
5. Hoaxers often use all kinds of ciphers; To one degree or another, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Pushkin resorted to various types of encryption in their texts.
6. Finally, hoaxers use all sorts of tricks to support the hoax in life; Pushkin staged such a mystifying game around Eugene Onegin. But the hoax around Shakespeare’s pseudonym was especially powerful, in which, in addition to Stratfordian William Shakspere, dozens of poets and playwrights of the Elizabethan era took part - which led to the fact that this hoax has still not been fully resolved.
Unmasking hoaxes.
If the hoax is done skillfully, then its exposure presents enormous difficulties and, as a rule, if the hoaxer himself does not confess, then this happens purely by accident. Since history tends to forget its hoaxes, exposure becomes increasingly difficult as time passes. Therefore, there is no doubt that many hoaxes still remain unexposed. In this regard, information about the circumstances of the disclosure of certain hoaxes is of particular interest. Opening l literary hoax produced by means of textual criticism of the text. Social genesis and bias in l literary hoax expressed, as a rule, more frankly than in ordinary works; often give out anachronisms, linguistic inconsistencies, etc. Mn. l iterative hoaxes are not only of historical interest, but also of aesthetic value.
III.Literary hoaxes revealed.
Conclusion.
James ARKWRIGHT (Gennady Fish)
The leader of the Leningrad Bolsheviks, Sergei Mironovich Kirov, mentioned him in one of his speeches and wished to get to know the author better. Editor of the Stroika magazine, where as Since the next publication was being prepared, I turned to the writer Gennady Fish, in whose translations Arkwright’s works were published. And after some confusion, he admitted that there was no Arkwright in nature, that he was born “at the tip of the pen” of Gennady Fish himself, and the photograph was “American.” was taken from the pre-revolutionary “Niva”... The editor grabbed his head: having learned about the prank, “Mironych” could have been angry - the people's solidarity of the working people is not a reason for jokes. But Kirov reasoned differently: whether Arkwright exists or not - it is important that he works. on us! And the book “Arkwright’s Notebook” was published in 1933. This story was told in his book “The Path of Conscience” by the old St. Petersburg critic Anatoly Gorelov, in the past the same editor of that very magazine “Stroyka”...
Despite all the fantastic nature, Arkwright’s story is not without a basis in reality. “Class brothers” from Western countries really came in the twenties and thirties to help build the world’s first socialist country. In Siberia, in Kuzbass, an entire American Industrial Colony (AIC) was created. The fate of its leaders turned out to be tragic: they were repressed. James Arkwright, as a fictitious person, escaped this fate. And today we reread his poems with special feeling.
Irina DONSKAYA
(Andrey Shiroglazov)
The book of poems by Irina Donskaya, published in 2001 by the Vologda publishing house “Palisad” with a circulation of 150 copies, is one of the brightest and most mysterious poetic hoaxes recent years. Although, it would seem, what is mysterious here? On the very first page of the “personal author’s copy” sent to me, even before the “title”, it was printed in black and white: “Andrei Gennadievich Shiroglazov ( literary pseudonym Irina Donskaya)". So, strictly speaking, there is no hoax: all the cards are revealed at once. But there are also poems. And in poetry - biography, fate, character (purely feminine and purely modern). N. Demyankova, a student of the Faculty of Journalism at the Ural University, writes very precisely about this in the preface (a real person or also a mask?), contrasting, among other things, the Cherepovets poetic school with the “official Vologda” - the regional center. It is in Cherepovets (referred to, by the way, in the text of the preface as “northern Athens”) that Irina Donskaya “lives”. However, quotation marks for the verb “lives” are perhaps unnecessary. He just lives. Because, despite everything, you believe in its existence.
Cherubina de Gabriak (Elizaveta Ivanovna Dmitrieva, married
Vasiliev).
Born into a poor noble family; father is a penmanship teacher, mother is a midwife. Her father died early from tuberculosis, and E. Dmitrieva suffered from the same disease in childhood, leaving her lame for the rest of her life. After graduating from the Vasileostrovskaya gymnasium, she studied at the St. Petersburg Women's Pedagogical Institute (studied medieval history and French literature), attended lectures at St. Petersburg University and the Sorbonne. She taught history at the gymnasium and did translations from Spanish. She wrote mystical poems, but was not published. In the summer of 1909 in the Crimea, her friend M. Voloshin advised her to send poems to the newly opened Apollo magazine under a magnificent pseudonym (which they came up with together). He contributed to the spread of rumors about a mysterious Spanish beauty from a noble family - Cherubina de Gabriac. The entire editorial staff of Apollo was intrigued by the beautiful reclusive poetess; editor S. Makovsky, who had fallen in love with Cherubina in absentia, published her poems in two large cycles.
The hoax was roughly exposed by N. Gumilyov and translator I. von Ponter, also an employee of the magazine. Defending the honor of the poetess, M. Voloshin challenged N. Gumilev to a duel; E. Dmitrieva perceived everything that happened as a tragedy. She left literature for several years, then began to write poems with a different sound - mystical-anthroposophical ones, but little was published
(I never used Cherubina’s pseudonym again).
“When the snow falls!..” - you said and touched it anxiously
My lips, muffling the words with a kiss.
This means that happiness is not a dream. It's here. It will be possible.
When it snows.
When it snows! In the meantime, let in the languid gaze
He'll hide. The unnecessary impulse will be silenced!
My favorite! Everything will be pearl-shiny,
When it snows.
When the snow falls and seems to sink lower
Blue edges of blue clouds, -
And I will become, perhaps, both dearer and closer to you,
When the snow falls...
https://pandia.ru/text/78/143/images/image008_0.png" alt="Romain" align="left" width="250" height="349 src=">С начала 1960-х годов в русскоязычных зарубежных изданиях стали появляться произведения, подписанные неким Абрамом Терцем. Одной из самых известных стала повесть «Любимов» - о маленьком советском городке, в котором велосипедный мастер захватил власть, стал диктатором и начал строить настоящий коммунизм. Тот же автор опубликовал ироническую и едкую статью о !} socialist realism. In the USSR, Tertz’s texts were considered anti-Soviet and defamatory of the “Soviet state and social order", after which the KGB began searching for the author. It is not known exactly how Sinyavsky’s authorship was established - perhaps we are talking about someone’s betrayal or a graphological examination. In 1965–1966, a high-profile trial took place against Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel (he also published in the West under a pseudonym). And although collective letters were received in defense of the writers, both from abroad and from many of their Soviet colleagues, nevertheless, the court found them guilty. Sinyavsky received seven years for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. In 1991, the case was reviewed and the verdict was overturned. But there remains a letter from Mikhail Sholokhov, in which he calls the books of Sinyavsky and Daniel “dirt from a puddle.” To publish in the West, and even with texts that censorship would never have allowed in the USSR, under one’s own name was pure suicide. By publishing under pseudonyms, the authors tried to protect themselves and their loved ones. However, Sinyavsky continued to publish prose under the name Abram Terts even after his release from the camp and departure to emigrate. According to the version voiced by his wife Maria Rozanova after the writer’s death, the pseudonym was taken in honor of the hero of an Odessa criminal song - a pickpocket. By this Sinyavsky seemed to acknowledge that he was leading dangerous game. And having become famous under this name, he no longer wanted to give it up: the fictional writer’s biography turned out to be more glorious and exciting than the real one.
Max Fry Russian writer and artist Svetlana Martynchik.
Since 1996, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Azbuka" began publishing books by the writer Max Frei. Genre: fantasy with elements of parody. The novels gradually gained popularity, and by 2001 Max Fry had become one of the most published Russian science fiction writers. Eventually, the author's popularity grew to such an extent that it became necessary to present it to the public: Fry became a real star. Max Fry is not listed among foreign authors; for Russia such a first and last name is atypical - that means it is a pseudonym, everyone decided. The publisher joked that Max Fry was a blue-eyed black man. This continued until the fall of 2001, when on Dmitry Dibrov’s television program the host introduced Svetlana Martynchik to the audience as the real author of Max Frei’s books. And then a scandal broke out: Martynchik accused Azbuka of trying to register “Max Fry” as a trademark and imprison literary blacks write for her. In the 1990s, against the backdrop of a surge in domestic market Russian authors have become somewhat lost in the flow of foreign science fiction. As a result, books of domestic origin began to appear, but under foreign names. Dmitry Gromov and Oleg Ladyzhensky wrote on behalf of Henry Lyon Oldie, and Elena Khaetskaya became Madeline Simons. For the same reason, the pseudonym “Max Fry” was born. By the way, Fry’s books always bear the copyright of Martynchik herself. In fact, we are talking about a publishing, not a writer's, hoax: the figure of the author is carefully mythologized, and at the moment the pseudonym is revealed, if the author is still popular by that time, you can make good money.
Misha Defonseca a American-Belgian writer Monique de Vel.
Autobiography" href="/text/category/avtobiografiya/" rel="bookmark">autobiographical: Misha tells how at the very beginning of the war she, then a very little girl, lived in Belgium. Her Jewish parents were deported by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp , she herself managed to escape, after which she wandered around Europe throughout the war, spent the night in the forests, ate what she could get, and for a long time generally lived with wolves, like Mowgli. The book was not successful in the USA, but in Europe the text quickly became popular. bestseller. In France, by 2005, it was one of the twenty best-selling books in the non-fiction genre. The author himself was never hiding: the subject of the hoax was not the writer, but the physical embodiment of Misha Defonseca existed and gave interviews. the public had questions about the story itself. One of those who believed that Defonseca’s book was a fake was the Frenchman Serge Arol, the author of several works on the relationship between people and wolves. Gradually, inconsistencies between the events described in the book and real historical facts began to emerge: for example, the deportation of Jews did not take place at the time Defonseca indicates. But Defonseca's opponents invariably received accusations of anti-Semitism. At the same time, a conflict developed between the American publisher and Defonseca - they were suing over the terms of the contract. Then the journalists rummaged through the archives and discovered that the writer was not Jewish at all, but Belgian, Monique de Vel, and Defonseca was her husband’s surname. Monique's father was actually a Gestapo agent, thanks to whom the Germans were able to defeat a group of Belgian underground fighters. Finally, in February 2008, Defonseca admitted that her text was not a memoir, but fiction. The book caused quite a heated scandal in Belgium: Jewish organizations that had long defended Defonseca were shocked after her final exposure. The writer herself justified herself by saying that the fictional life of a girl named Misha was so close to her that she herself no longer knew what her childhood was really like. After all, she really grew up without parents. It’s not clear what it was - a cunning fraud or a split personality. Perhaps both at the same time. It is interesting that in Russia the book was published in 2009, that is, after the author was exposed, but it was positioned as the true memoirs of a Jewish girl. “This book, this story, is really about me. This is not what happened in reality, but this is my reality.” (From an interview with Monique de Vel)
Boris , Japanese translator and writer.
In 1998, the detective novel “Azazel” was published about the adventures of the young St. Petersburg detective Erast Fandorin. The author is listed on the cover - Boris Akunin. The genre - “intelligent historical detective story” - turned out to be in demand, although not immediately. At the beginning of the 2000s, Akunin's books became bestsellers, and conversations began about film adaptations, which meant much more money for the author than just royalties for novels. As Akunin's books became more popular and their audience wider, a variety of assumptions were put forward, including that the author was actually Vladimir Zhirinovsky or Tatyana Tolstaya. However, already in 2000 it became known that under this pseudonym was hiding a Japanese translator, deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine “Foreign Literature” Grigory Chkhartishvili. He himself admitted this, giving several interviews and beginning to appear in public not only as Chkhartishvili, but also as Akunin. Throughout the 1990s, writing popular books " low genre", that is, detective stories and thrillers, was considered an activity unworthy of an intelligent person: the author should not be smarter than his works. Moreover, as the writer himself admitted in an interview, bookstore merchandisers would never have pronounced Chkhartishvili’s name anyway. And B. Akunin speaks easily, and immediately sets up the reader who has graduated from school to classics of the 19th century century.
Holm van Zaitchik orientalists and writers Vyacheslav Rybakov and Igor Alimov.
Since 2000, novels by a certain Dutch writer and humanist Holm van Zaichik about a utopian-nice parallel historical reality in which China, the Mongol Empire and Rus' are united into one superpower have been published in Russian. In just six years, seven novels were published under the pseudonym Holm van Zaitchik. The mystery of van Zaitchik was an open secret from the very beginning, although parody interviews were published in the name of the “humanist”. The fact that two St. Petersburg authors were hiding behind this pseudonym, which refers to the name of the Dutchman Robert van Gulik (one of the largest orientalists of the twentieth century, whose works were quite actively published at that time), became known a year later, when they began to receive money for their project. literary awards at science fiction festivals, and then honestly admit in interviews that it is them. The frankly ironic content of the work (a utopia parodying Russian history, and even many characters have real prototypes among friends and acquaintances of the authors) encouraged the co-authors to continue the game. At the same time, the serious science fiction writer Rybakov and the serious historian Alimov would look bad as authors on the cover of such a book. But the openly bantering van Zaychik is very good. At the turn of the millennium, literature gravitated towards dystopias, no one wrote utopias, and additional literary play was required to justify positive prose.
Nathan Dubovitsky r Russian statesman Vladislav Surkov.
In 2009, the novel “Near Zero” was published in the supplement to the magazine “Russian Pioneer”. The hitherto unknown Nathan Dubovitsky is stated as the author. The hero of the novel is a cynic who changes professions: he is now a publisher, now a merchant, now a political PR specialist. In the novel there are oppositionists, caricatured, whom wise experience main character teaches life: “It’s not power you hate, but life. Generally. She’s not what you would like.” Based on the novel, Kirill Serebrennikov staged Small stage Art Theater performance “I killed my grandmother.” The assumption that the author of the novel was the then deputy head of the presidential administration, Vladislav Surkov, appeared almost immediately. Surkov has published his texts more than once in the Russian Pioneer magazine, he writes articles and stories, and is the author of lyrics for several songs by the Agatha Christie group. The main ideas of the book - that the government is corrupt, but the opposition is no better, and even worse - coincide with the ideas of Surkov himself, which he voiced more than once. Viktor Yerofeyev said in his interview that it was Surkov who was the author of “Okolonol”, referring to a personal conversation with the official. Finally, a commonplace in articles about the novel “Near Zero” has become the idea that the pseudonym may be associated with the surname of Surkov’s wife, Dubovitskaya. It is interesting that at one time Surkov was also named as a possible author of novels written under the pseudonym Anna Borisova. Almost all over the world, current politicians and officials do not publish books under their own names. Especially if they talk about their work in these books. Surkov for our political and public life that same semi-mythical figure of the “author” who “either died or not.” It is he who is considered the fatal gray eminence who tightened the screws, strangled freedoms, turned elections into a farce, and television into a propaganda machine. This picture of the world is especially popular among residents major cities With higher education, among the intelligentsia of the 2000s. This category of citizens believes that “Surkov’s propaganda” has no effect on them; it is impossible to seriously speak to this reader on behalf of Vladislav Surkov, the author of the novel about modern life. But Dubovitsky can talk to him in his own language and try to explain that this same reader, with his pathological hatred of power, must be ridiculous even to himself.
Conclusion.
Literary hoaxes are now being studied from different angles; as proof of this phenomenon, one can cite a program on the Culture channel.
Literary hoaxes on the channel "Culture" On the channel "Russia-K" on May 2 the series "Literary hoaxes" will begin. Author of this project– cultural connoisseur, researcher of various archives in the country and abroad, Ivan Tolstoy. A brilliant storyteller will show and analyze the most important events in the artistic sphere, and talk about cultural celebrities through the prism of literary hoaxes. During my research, I came to a paradoxical conclusion: one of the main tasks of literary hoaxes is to hide its cause.
Hoaxes are always directed to the future, which automatically removes the question of the ethical responsibility of the hoaxer. Yes, the hoaxer deceives his contemporaries - or, to put it mildly, misleads them - but they will not know about it, and, therefore, no one becomes an object of ridicule. Laughter is heard only at the moment of the solution, but by this time there are so many people who are mistaken that the individual feeling of deception dissolves into the collective one and only causes a smile: “They played a great joke on us!” But literary scholars, living at the moment of the solution, have to decide what to do with their works, which the hoaxer “framed” in one way or another.
Another conclusion follows from this: hoaxes, as a rule, are intended to solve them - otherwise they are meaningless (a hoax intended only to deceive has no future). That is why hoaxers, destroying any documentary evidence of a hoax, leave ambiguous hints and “clues” for descendants. The better the hoax is organized, the longer it remains unsolved, the more contemporaries and descendants are misled - and the stronger the effect of solving it. In other words, a literary hoax becomes more significant the longer it remains unsolved.
From all that has been said above, it is not difficult to conclude that the subject of a successful literary hoax can only be an outstanding work of art. In fact, only such a work can arouse long-lasting, over decades and centuries, persistent reader interest, which, in fact, leads to a flash of general attention when it is solved. “Hamlet”, “Don Quixote”, “Eugene Onegin”, “The Master and Margarita”, which have been solved most recently, literally before our eyes, are precisely such works. Such a work is Pushkin’s “The Little Humpbacked Horse” - undoubtedly the most beloved Russian poetic fairy tale of our ancestors, us and our children and grandchildren.
It also follows that a literary hoax is considered to have taken place when it is solved.
Bibliography:
1. “Poets that never existed” Ilya Fonyakov.
2. “House in Kolomna”
3. Article by Vladimir Kozarovetsky “Time to collect stones I”
4. Article by Vladimir Kozarovetsky “Time to collect stones II”
5. “Famous hoaxes.”
6. Literary Encyclopedia 1929-1939.
7. "Literary hoax."
8. Dmitriev his name: From the history of pseudonyms and anonyms / Dmitriev, Valentin Grigorievich, Dmitriev, V.G. - M.: Nauka, 19с
9. “Alexander Pushkin. The Little Humpbacked Horse”, 3rd edition; M., ID KAZAROV, 2011
10. Yu. \ Joseph L "Estrange \ Giakinf Maglanovich \ © 2004 FEB.
11. Gililov about William Shakespeare, or the Mystery of the Great Phoenix (2nd edition). M.: Intl. Relationships, 2000.
12. Encyclopedia of pseudonyms of Russian poets.
13. Kozlov falsification: A manual for teachers and university students. 2nd ed. M.: Aspect Press, 1996.
REVIEW
For the research work of Ekaterina Yurievna Parilova, a 10th grade student at the Rudnogorsk Secondary School.
Topic: “The art of literary hoaxes.”
Ekaterina Parilova's work is dedicated to the art of literary hoaxes.
There is no comprehensive survey of literary forgeries in any language. The reason is not difficult to establish: the science of literature is powerless to verify its entire archive. It is powerless because this verification presupposes the presence of primary sources, that is, manuscripts that do not raise doubts about authenticity. But what an immeasurable number of such manuscripts have been lost forever! And, as a result, the history of world literature, knowing about the falsification of many monuments, tries to forget about it.
Purpose of the study: to identify general patterns of the art of literary mystification.
Research objectives: find out as much data as possible about literary hoaxes; reveal the features of the art of literary hoaxes; describe the features of the art of literary hoaxes; prove that literary hoax is a synthetic art form; identify as many reasons as possible for the appearance of literary hoaxes; establish how a hoax is exposed; find as many literary hoaxes as possible; systematize the collected material.
When writing a research paper, the student used the following methods: 1) Complex analysis; 2) Imperial method; 3) Data processing method; 4) Method of induction; 5) Generalization method.
The work provides a rationale for the relevance of the topic under study, put forward goals, set tasks, and formulate a hypothesis; the methods, object and subject of the research are determined; a review of the literature on the topic is given. The material in the work is presented in compliance with internal logic; there is a logical relationship between sections. The author's erudition in the area under consideration is traced. In my opinion, the work has no shortcomings. I have not found any errors or inaccuracies in it. I recommend that teachers of Russian language and literature use the material from this research work.
Reviewer: , Russian language teacher and literature MOU"Rudnogorskaya Sosh"
"House in Kolomna" XVII verse.
Article by Vladimir Kozarovetsky “Time to collect stones I”.
Wikipedia site data.
Yu. \ Joseph L "Estrange \ Giakinf Maglanovich \ © 2004 FEB.
Gililov about William Shakespeare, or the Mystery of the Great Phoenix (2nd edition). M.: Intl. Relationships, 2000.
Encyclopedia of pseudonyms of Russian poets.
Kozlov falsification: A manual for university teachers and students. 2nd ed. M.: Aspect Press, 1996.
"Alexander Pushkin. The Little Humpbacked Horse”, 3rd edition; M., ID KAZAROV, 2011.
Shakespeare and the “language of birds” / Context 9. Literary and philosophical almanac. No. C.
Textual criticism of the text is a branch of philological sciences that studies works of writing and literature in order to restore history, critically verify and establish their texts, which are then used for further research, interpretation, publication and other purposes.
Origin, emergence; process of education, formation.
Biased or one-sided disclosure (interpretation) of the theme of the work.
“Poets who were not” Ilya Fonyakov.
From pseudonyms to friendly practical jokes among Russian writers it turned out to be very close. At first, such pranks did not have the nature of a game and were simple “attempts” to present their works under someone else’s name. Here it is worth recalling the classic “Belkin’s Tales”, which belonged to Pushkin, and “Sensations and Remarks of Mrs. Kurdyukova” written by Myatlev. However, the real creators in these cases did not plan to “hide” from readers and put their real names on the covers. However, then real games and hoaxes began among domestic writers.
Thus, it is known that in the mid-19th century the publication of the poem “Woman’s Advocacy” appeared, signed by a certain Evgenia Sarafanova. The Pantheon publishing house publishes this poem, and then receives a letter from the “author”, in which the woman, happy with the publication of the work, thanks the publishing house and asks for some money, since she is actually a “poor girl.” “Pantheon” sends the fee, and then the real author is announced - G.P. Danilevsky. Later, in order to debunk speculation about the authorship of this poem, he includes it in his collected works.
However, although Mr. Danilevsky was not the only hoaxer of this kind (indeed, there were many similar hoaxes during that period), we will focus only on the two largest hoax events, the scale of which exceeded all previously known attempts at hoaxes.
Kozma Prutkov - we play seriously!
This draw was carried out according to all the rules of a well-thought-out production and in accordance with the genre of urban folklore. This hoax included authors, directors, actors, who were also united by “blood relationship.” They were all Tolstoy brothers: Alexey Konstantinovich ( famous writer) and his three cousins - Alexander, Vladimir and Alexey (Mikhailovich Zhemchuzhnikovs), who chose one collective pseudonym - Kozma Prutkov.
True, at first Kozma, of course, was Kuzma. And first appeared as creative experience 4 authors in the Sovremennik supplement - “Literary Jumble”.
Literary scholars who subsequently analyzed this phenomenon came to the conclusion that Kozma Prutkov had not only a “collective” parent, but also a “collective” prototype, since in the prototype of the hero of this hoax the researchers saw both the lyrical poet of that time V.V. Benediktov and Fet , and Polonsky, and Khomyakov...
Prutkov, observing all the requirements and conventions of presence in literature, had both his own biography and social status.
So, this “writer” was born in 1803, on April 11. He served in his youth in a hussar regiment, then retired and entered the civilian field - service in the Assay Office, where he reached the rank of state councilor and the position of director. Prutkov appeared in print in 1850, and passed away in 1863 on January 13. That is, his literary activity is limited to only 13 years, but, nevertheless, Prutkov’s popularity is great.
The first “germs” of the revelation were already discovered in the biography, since although the Assay Chamber itself really existed, there was no position of director in it. In fact, the institution so called belonged to the department of the Department of Mining and Salt Affairs under the Ministry of Finance, where there were both the Moscow and St. Petersburg Chambers, which were engaged in testing and marking silver and gold. The Assay Chamber of the Northern Capital, of course, also had its own legal address - 51 Catherine Canal embankment. Moreover, this institution existed there until 1980. However, the urban folklore of St. Petersburg has retained this name to this day - this is also the name of the Institute of Metrology, which is located on Moskovsky Prospekt, 19. Previously, it was the Chamber of Weights and Measures, and the corresponding samples were actually set there.
In addition to the invented “official data”, the writer Kozma Prutkov was endowed with real traits of his “parents”, who at that time were already poets (mainly known by A.K. Tolstoy), belonged to the “golden youth” of the capital, and were known as “snarlers” and wits. These pampered people really had amazing tricks behind them that excited and amused the capital.
For example, one day Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov caused a stir when, dressed in an adjutant wing uniform, he visited all the major architects of the capital overnight and gave them orders to appear at the palace, because
He showed up to work in a perfect suit, patent leather boots and a starched collar. Among bohemians, he was known as the “arbiter of proper taste” and even ordered his employees to come to work in tailcoats. Such refined aesthetics and pretentious elegance could almost claim to be the norm in the culture of those years.
After listening to the homely lame woman, Makovsky rejects her poems...
Of course, in his ideas, the modern poetess had to be correlated with the image of an inaccessible and demonic lady, socialite and beauties.
It would seem that the plot is exhausted? Elizabeth is denied access to literature forever. But here fate intervenes in the form of another poet - Maximilian Voloshin. He was a very talented and extraordinary person. For some time, Voloshin also collaborated with Apollo, although he did not woo its editor-in-chief special sympathy personally. Voloshin was a resident of Kyivian, he worked part of his life in Moscow, part in Koktebel. This poet did not have an understanding with St. Petersburg; he did not like this capital. It was as if Voloshin was a stranger here. On the contrary, in his house in Koktebel he organized a completely different life - with pranks, jokes, caricatures and very sensitive meetings for his friends. However, Maximilian Voloshin deserves a separate and detailed story.
So it was Voloshin who came up with the idea to punish Makovsky for his snobbery and excessive aesthetics and thus protect Dmitrieva (by the way, legend says that the poet himself was not indifferent to this “ugly girl”). Thus, the genre of literary hoax, already half-forgotten since the time of Prutkov, was “resurrected” in the capital.
Together with Dmitrieva, Voloshin creates the image of a fatal beauty, necessary and “desired” for bohemia, who also has hereditary roots in South America! The name is made up of the name of the heroine (Garta-Cherubina) of one American writer and one of the names evil spirits- Gabriak. A beautiful romantic pseudonym came out - Cherubina de Gabriak.
The poems signed by this lady were written on beautiful and expensive paper, sealed with wax with the inscription on the seal - “Vae vintis!” or "Woe to the vanquished."
Voloshin hoped a little that this inscription would “open the eyes” of Makovsky. The goal of the hoaxers was to publish Dmitrieva’s poems, and it was achieved! The femme fatale became a literary sensation in the capital. As expected, all the writers were immediately fascinated and in love with the mysterious stranger. And even Makovsky sent the poetess luxurious bouquets. Everyone knew her poems, everyone talked about her, but no one saw her.
As usual, the hoax was not without love “adventures” and even a duel. We wrote about this romantic story in the section of literary duels. It was because of Cherubina that Voloshin and Gumilev met on the Black River. The first defended the lady's honor, the second longed for satisfaction for the slap he received from Max. In the background of this duel is Gumilyov’s invitation to marry him, to which Cherubina refused, having received which Gumilyov publicly speaks about the mysterious stranger in offensive and frank terms.
The duel was bloodless, but with the consequences of exposure. It is believed that Elizaveta Ivanovna’s conscience began to torment her, and she decided to stop the hoax by confessing everything to Makovsky.
Cherubina confesses, Makovsky is stunned, but pretends that he was aware of the adventure.
Game over…
It's interesting that the life of a teacher primary classes with a modest salary in the future also remained a secret. So, no one knows for sure anything about her life or burial place. As if she died either in 1925, or in 1931, or in Turkmenistan, or on Solovki. It is known that in her marriage she is Vasilyeva, and allegedly she and her husband were sent into exile on the “Academic Case”. However, already in our time another collection of her poems was published under her real name, and they turned out to be not at all mediocre...
"The Prince's Joke"
About the book "Ommer de Gell, letters and notes", which was published by the Academy publishing house in 1933. These are unknown documentary materials of a French traveler, in which she describes her voyage across Russia at the end of the 19th century. The sensational content of the book lies in a number of “new” facts from the biography of the classics of Russian literature. For example, a secret romance and French poems by Mikhail Lermontov. The most prominent researchers and literary scholars accepted this hoax, which was created back in the 19th century by Prince Pavel Petrovich Vyazemsky, at face value.
"Beloved son"
According to the rules of the most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt Prize, it cannot be won twice. But there is a case in history when a writer circumvented this law, however, thanks to a scandalous hoax. This is the son of a Russian emigrant, who became a classic of French literature - Romain Gary. But the main hoaxer in the writer’s family was not he, but his mother.
"The Evil Sonnets of Guillaume du Ventre"
Sonnets French poet XVI century Guillaume du Ventre were published in the original language with translation in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in 1946. The real authors of this book were two prisoners who spent almost their entire lives in Stalin's camps. About amazing life and the creativity of these people who resisted the vicissitudes of fate - a story in the program.
"Botanical Hoaxes"
At a literary evening in Paris, Vladislav Khodasevich gave a report in which he spoke about the unknown poet of Derzhavin’s circle, Vasily Travnikov. Story about difficult fate Travnikov and the analysis of his poems, discovered by a happy accident by Khodasevich, evoked an enthusiastic reaction from critics, especially from Georgy Adamovich. A few years later, Vladimir Nabokov published poems and a story about meeting his contemporary, Vasily Shishkov. And again Adamovich was in the forefront of those deceived by the hoax. This brilliant critic, who constantly made claims to the work of Khodasevich and Nabokov, was conducted by them both times, under botanical pseudonyms.
The Silver Age loved pranks and hoaxes, but one of them went beyond private entertainment and turned into a significant event in the literary and cultural life of the 1910s. Is in history Cherubins de Gabriac something that disturbs the heart even more than a century later: perhaps the poems themselves, perhaps the fate of their author.
Trouble in the editorial office
In 1909-1917 Apollo magazine, dedicated to literature, painting and theater, occupied a very special place among printed publications Russian capital. Today it would be called “cult”: publication in “Apollo” meant almost automatic inclusion of the novice author in the guild of poets. However, getting published in Apollo was not easy. In August 1909, Makovsky, who was then performing the duties of not only the publisher, but also the editor-in-chief, received a letter.
It was sharply different from other “gravity flow” and appearance- leaves in mourning frames, arranged with spicy herbs, elegant handwriting, and the content - the poems were refined and mysterious. Makovsky was intrigued, especially since soon a stranger, who introduced herself as Cherubina, called on the phone, and then sent another letter with wonderful poems.
When Makovsky showed Cherubina’s poems to Apollo employees, among whom was M. Voloshin, they supported his decision to immediately publish them. But more powerful than the embossed lines was the personality of their author. The mysterious Cherubina communicated with Makovsky only by phone, spoke about herself in hints, and in poetry wrote about ancient coats of arms, confession in a church and other things exotic for a Russian intellectual.
Heiress of the Crusaders
Gradually - from hints, fragments of phrases, half-confession and metaphors - the image of the poetess emerged. In a luxurious mansion, where mere mortals have no access, lives a young beauty with the golden braids of a princess and the green eyes of a witch. She is a noble Spaniard by origin, a passionate Catholic by religion, and a poet by vocation.
Seeing her, it is impossible not to fall in love, but she loves only Christ and is seriously thinking about entering a monastery. She doesn't need royalties - she's immensely rich; she doesn't need fame - she's above this vanity fair. This image fit so well into the style of decadence that not only Makovsky, but almost the entire editorial staff of the magazine fell in love with Cherubina de Gabriak.
The “passion for Cherubina” lasted for several months, regularly sending new poems and creating new reasons for excitement. Then she became seriously ill, falling unconscious after a night prayer vigil; then she leaves for Paris. Driven into a frenzy, Makovsky vowed to tear off the veil of secrecy from Cherubina at all costs and fall at the feet of the green-eyed naiad, experienced in “mystical eros.” Soon his wish came true, albeit in a somewhat unexpected way.
Duel and exposure
In November 1909, an unheard of incident happened: M. Voloshin, known for his good-natured disposition and physical strength, approached N. Gumilyov and slapped him in the face in the presence of witnesses. It didn’t come to a fight between the famous poets: they were separated, but it came to a duel, which took place on November 22, 1909 on the Black River. The duel ended without bloodshed, but rumors spread throughout St. Petersburg: they were fighting because of a woman, because of that same Cherubina. But it turned out that both of them knew her?
It soon became clear that Makovsky himself was familiar with Cherubina. In the summer, a young teacher, Elizaveta Dmitrieva, brought him her poems: pretty, but lame and, oh horror, poorly dressed. According to Makovsky, a real poetess could not look like that, and the poems were returned to the author. If Dmitrieva had not been part of Voloshin’s circle, this would have been the end of it; but she told the story of the unsuccessful publication to a poet who loved practical jokes, and he came up with a “game of Cherubina” on a summer Koktebel evening.
The fact that Dmitrieva and Voloshin started the game for its own sake, and not for the sake of publication, is evidenced by the fact that Elizaveta could be published in Apollo under her own name - even after an unsuccessful first visit. All she had to do was ask her lover N. Gumilyov, and he would persuade Makovsky to publish a couple of her works on the pages of the magazine. But I didn’t want to ask Dmitriev.
The teacher, who lived on a meager salary, was seduced by the opportunity to feel, at least for a short time, like a fatal beauty playing with men’s hearts. Voloshin came up with themes, Elizaveta wrote poems and intrigued Makovsky over the phone, portraying a mysterious aristocrat. But every game comes to an end sooner or later. Today they would say that Voloshin and Dmitrieva created a “virtual character.”
erupted loud scandal. A stream of the dirtiest gossip swirled around Dmitrieva: Voloshin, they say, wrote poetry for her; and she slept with two poets at the same time; and scary as a toad. The shocked girl stopped writing poetry and left the world of literature for a long time. Dmitrieva’s fate was sad: exiled to Central Asia, she died in 1928 at the age of 41 from liver cancer, and her grave has not survived. All that remains is the legend of the brilliant beauty Cherubina and her poems.
BONUS
Another extraordinary personality of that time, Pallada Bogdanova-Belskaya, is of great interest today.