Difference between revisions 795448699 and 795769199 on enwiki

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A '''false document''' is often promoted in conjunction with a criminal enterprise, such as [[fraud]] or a [[confidence game]]. 

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''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', purporting to describe a [[Jew]]ish plan for global domination, was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the 20th century.


== In fiction ==
===In literature===
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Fiction writers sometimes use the technique of inventing a piece of literature or non-fiction and referring to this work as if it actually existed, typically by quoting from the work.

One of the earliest examples of the technique can be found in the 16th century [[chivalric romance]], ''[[Amadis de Gaula|Amadis of Gaul]]'' (1508), written by [[Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo]]. Montalvo claimed to have discovered sections of a story that he had written himself.

Blurring the line of reality and fiction is an important component of horror, mystery, [[Detective fiction|detective]], science fiction and fantasy narratives due to their unusual demands on [[verisimilitude]]; a typically descriptive narrative form may not engender in the reader the necessary sense of wonder and danger. For this reason, false documentary techniques have been in use for at least as long as these literary genres have existed. ''[[Frankenstein]]'' draws heavily on a forged document feel, as do ''[[Dracula]]'', ''[[The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' and many of the works of [[Jules Verne]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and [[H.G. Wells]]. [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s ''[[Pale Fire]]'' is a particularly elaborate variation.

False documents intentionally blur the boundaries between fiction and fact, and, in some cases, the difference between an artistic achievement and a convincing [[forgery]] is slight. Sometimes the false-document technique can be the subject of a work instead of the technique behind the work itself; however, these two approaches are not [[Mutual exclusion|mutually exclusive]], as many texts that engage "falseness" operate on both a [[Literal and figurative language|literal]] and [[Theme (literature)|thematic]] level.

In practice, false-document effects can be achieved in many ways. Tactics have included the following: fake [[Complaint|police reports]], newspaper articles, [[Bibliography|bibliographical]] references, documentary footage, or using the legal names of performers or writers in a fictional context. Supplementary material such as badges, [[Identity document|identity cards (IC)]], diaries, letters or [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] can also be included, and this extends the exercise beyond the confines of the [[Text (literary theory)|text]].

The following is a partial list of false supporting documents in fiction:
====Novels====
''Candide''
* [[Voltaire]]'s novel ''[[Candide]]'' purports to be assembled from the notes of a deceased "Monsieur le docteur Ralph", likely because the novel pokes fun at most of the powers of Europe at the time.
''Carrie''
* [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''[[Carrie (novel)|Carrie]]'' includes many excerpts from a fictional committee's findings on the events in the novel, as well as excerpts from a book on the events in the novel titled ''The Shadow Exploded''.
''Dictionary of the Khazars''
* [[Milorad Pavić (writer)|Milorad Pavić]]'s ''[[Dictionary of the Khazars]]'' is a work of fiction in the form of three fictional [[encyclopedia]]s, which incorporate viewpoints that provide inconsistent descriptions of the events they describe.
''The Dirty Dozen''
* The climax of the novel by [[E.M. Nathanson]] is presented in the form of an official military report. In the film based on the novel, ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'', the climactic attack on a German chateau is done as an elaborate action sequence. The official military report appears as a brief voice-over narration in the final scene. 
''Dracula''
* [[Bram Stoker]]'s novel ''Dracula'' is told in the form of numerous documents, including journals and newspaper articles. A brief introduction claims that they are all real.
''Don Quixote''
* [[Miguel de Cervantes]] claims that all chapters but the first in ''[[Don Quixote]]'' are translated from an Arabic manuscript by ''[[Cide Hamete Benengeli]]'', parodying a plot device of [[chivalric romance|chivalry book]]s. For instance, [[Joanot Martorell]] in the introductory letter to [[Tirant lo Blanc]] claims to be not the creator of a fiction, but the translator of an English historical manuscript.
''Either/Or''
*  ''[[Either/Or]]'', an influential philosophical text by [[Søren Kierkegaard]], purports to be a collection of texts discovered and edited by Kierkegaard's pseudonymous author Victor Eremita. In it are contained the writings of an "Aesthete" (called A), as well as the letters of a Judge Vilhelm (called B), both found accidentally by Eremita in an antique writing desk. An additional layer to the book includes the famous ''[[Seducer's Diary]]'', itself supposedly discovered by the Aesthete.
''For Want of a Nail''
* Business historian [[Robert Sobel]] wrote ''[[For Want of a Nail (novel)|For Want of a Nail]]'', a fictional history of an [[Alternate history|alternate]] North America which included hundreds of fictional footnotes and a bibliography listing over a hundred fictional histories and biographies.
''The Glory of the Empire''
* The 1971 novel ''La Gloire de l'Empire'' (''The Glory of the Empire'') by [[Jean d'Ormesson]] is a deadpan history of the imaginary Empire and its influence on literature and art, complete with citations to a host of real and fictional sources, and a footnote referring to itself.
''Gulliver's Travels''
* [[Jonathan Swift]]'s ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' was originally attributed to [[Lemuel Gulliver]], the main character, and was apparently an autobiographical account of four of his sea voyages. It includes a memorandum from Gulliver to his publisher.
''The Handmaid's Tale''
* [[Margaret Atwood]]'s novel ''[[The Handmaid's Tale]]'' closes with a chapter set at a conference taking place some time after the events of the rest of the book, in which scholars question the authenticity of the earlier manuscript.
''House of Leaves''
* ''[[House of Leaves]]'' by [[Mark Z. Danielewski]] is a novel taking the form of a commentary on a discussion of a documentary film called ''The Navidson Record''.  Although it contains extensive footnotes to both real and imagined books, academic papers, scientific reports, films, and television broadcasts, neither ''The Navidson Record'' nor the discussion on it actually exist.
''How is This Going to Continue''
* ''How Is This Going to Continue?'', a novel by [[James Chapman (author)|James Chapman]], presents itself as the libretto to a musical work by a composer whose (fictional) entry in ''[[The Grove Dictionary of Music]]'' is quoted at length. The apparatus is supported by extensive source notes, some of which refer to non-existent sources. Moreover, much of the book consists of false quotations by famous musicians, intermingled with actual quotations and with quotes by fictional characters.
''I Claudius''
* [[Robert Graves]]' novel ''[[I, Claudius]]'' is written as a recently discovered autobiography penned by the late Emperor.
''If On a Winter's Night a Traveller''
* [[Italo Calvino]]'s novel ''[[If On a Winter's Night a Traveller]]'' deals extensively with the concepts surrounding false documents, including serially representing the contents of the novel itself as a false document.
''Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell''
* Dozens of fictional footnotes referencing events, books of magical scholarship, and biographies in ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]'', the debut novel by [[Susanna Clarke]].
''The King in Yellow''
* ''[[The King in Yellow]]'' appearing in the book of the same name by [[Robert W. Chambers]] purports to be an actual play that is capable of driving the reader insane.
''The Name of the Rose''
* ''[[The Name of the Rose]]'' by [[Umberto Eco]] pretends to be a recovered manuscript. The story partly concerns the discovery of [[Aristotle]]'s [[Poetics (Aristotle)|book on Comedy]], which is in fact a [[lost book]].
''Robinson Crusoe''
* [[Daniel Defoe]]'s ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' was supposedly the autobiography of the [[title character]], an [[English people|English]] [[castaway]] who spent 28 years on a remote [[island]]. The account was published as a true story, in a genre called [[Histories (history of the novel)|histories]]. It was, however, fiction inspired by events in the life of [[Alexander Selkirk]].
''The Scarlet Letter''
* [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]'s book ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'' opens with an account of the author himself finding the letter and records which tell the story of Hester Prynne, which is narrated in the rest of the book. The existence of the records has never been proven; the opening is generally considered to be a literary device.
''The Screwtape Letters''
* ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', written by [[C. S. Lewis]], is purported to be a series of missives from a demonic teacher at a college to his protégé.
''Lemony Snicket''
* The books in [[Lemony Snicket]]'s ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' conclude with supposed letters from Snicket himself to his editor, containing a summary of his submitted manuscript for the following book in the series.  Since Lemony Snicket is both the fictional narrator of the stories as well as the author's [[pseudonym]], it creates a false sense that the stories are written from truth.

====Multiple works by individual authors====
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s story "[[The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline]]" is a fictional research paper about a compound that dissolves ''before'' being added to water that cites only and entirely false sources.  Also by Asimov is the [[Foundation series]] which has quotes from the fictitious ''Encyclopedia Galactica''.
* [[Nick Bantock]]'s series of ''[[Griffin and Sabine]]'' works consist of a series of letters and postcards between the two main characters.
* [[Jorge Luis Borges]] created a number of false documents scattered throughout his works, including the ''First Encyclopaedia of Tlön'' that appears in the short story "[[Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius]]", the entire [[bibliography]] for the fictional author [[Pierre Menard (fictional character)|Pierre Menard]], and an imaginary novel purportedly written by Bombay lawyer Mir Bahadur Ali entitled ''[[The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim]]'', which was "reviewed" by Borges in his story of the same name. Borges' analysis of metafiction in the essay "[[When Fiction Lives in Fiction]]" deals extensively with the teleological nature of false documents.
* [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[Eaters of the Dead]]'' is a fabricated recreation of the [[Old English language|Old English]] [[Epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Beowulf]]'' in the form of a scholastic translation of [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]]'s tenth-century manuscript. Many of his other novels, such as ''[[The Andromeda Strain]]'' and ''[[Jurassic Park (novel)|Jurassic Park]]'', also incorporated large quantities of fabricated scientific documents in the form of diagrams, [[DNA]] sequences, footnotes and bibliography.
* Both the books ''[[Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them]]'' and ''[[Quidditch Through the Ages]]'', which were written by [[Harry Potter]] author [[J.K. Rowling]] as a way to raise funds for [[Comic Relief]], are written as reference books for the wizarding world.  The books, which are referenced many times in the [[Harry Potter]] books, even have footnotes about other books, which do not exist, for future reading, and a foreword by [[Albus Dumbledore]], which explains why they are releasing the book to a [[muggle]] audience.  ''Fantastic Beasts'' also has handwritten marginal commentary by both Harry and Ron. The Harry Potter books themselves also contain fictional documents and books, such as ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'', which was later created in a similar fashion to ''Fantastic Beasts'' and ''Quidditch Through the Ages''. Other false documents that appear in the books include articles from ''The Daily Prophet'', a wizarding world newspaper which usually referenced events that were pertinent to the plots of the books, and ''The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore'', a "tell-all" book which became pertinent to the plot of the final book in the Harry Potter series.  
* ''The [[Red Book of Westmarch]]'' and a surviving copy of it called ''The Thain's Book'', portions of which were "translated" by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] into his books ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Tolkien also physically fabricated several pages of another fictional book, the ''[[Book of Mazarbul]]''.
* ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] claims to be the manuscript of [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] relating his adventures on [[Barsoom|Mars]], except for the first chapter explaining how the manuscript was received. Burroughs has also used this technique extensively in his other novels, particularly the tales of [[Pellucidar]].
* ''[[The Third Policeman]]'' and ''[[The Dalkey Archive]]'' by [[Flann O'Brien]] contains not only quotes from the works of a fictitious Irish philosopher named [[de Selby]], but also has numerous footnotes and references to other fictitious authors writing about de Selby and his books.
* [[Dean Koontz]]'s novels included quotations from ''[[The Book of Counted Sorrows]]'', which did not exist until, at the urging of his fans, he created it.
* Various of [[Jack Vance]]'s novels include quotations from ''Life'', the "philosophical encyclopedia" of [[Baron Bodissey]], as well as verses of the "mad poet" [[Navarth]], and other fictional works.

====Special cases====
A special case is represented by two examples fashioned to represent traditional academic scientific publications:

* ''[[The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades]]'', by [[Zoology|Zoologist]] [[Gerolf Steiner]], purports to be a non-fictional [[natural history]] study, and was written, published, and presented as if it were an actual scientific treatise documenting the recently extinct indigenous wildlife ("[[Rhinogradentia]]") of the equally fictitious [[Hi-yi-yi]] [[archipelago]]. There is nothing in the work itself that indicates it is a work of fiction.
* In a remarkably similar vein, [[science fiction]] artist and author [[Wayne Douglas Barlowe]] wrote ''[[Expedition (book)|Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV]]'', which was a natural history study of an alien planet and its indigenous wildlife, written as though published in the year 2366.

=== In film ===
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A false document is usually created as an artistic exercise, but should not be confused with a [[mockumentary]], which is a [[fictional film]] presented in the manner of a [[documentary film|documentary]].

The 1978 British comedy film ''[[The Rutles]]'' was done in the style of rock [[documentary]] which treated the fake band The Rutles as if they were a real band. It included [[mock-up]]s of album covers and other ephemera as well as fake videos. It also included figures such as [[Mick Jagger]] and [[Paul Simon]] as themselves, although it also included other members of [[The Rolling Stones]] and [[The Beatles]] playing various characters as well as numerous recognizable comedy actors, so there was no real intent to fool the audience. The success of the project did, however, lead to the fictional group recording two hit records and actually performing live concerts. The film would start a genre of its own, called mockumentary, and become hugely influential on later similar films, such as ''[[This is Spinal Tap]]'' and ''[[Hard Core Logo]].''

The 1983 [[Woody Allen]] film ''[[Zelig]]'' was an elaborate mix of real newsreel footage from the 1930s and fake footage mixed together with fake interviews with real actors playing themselves as well as actors playing roles to tell the story of the Allen character and presented as a documentary. Although the film looks realistic, the intent was not to actually fool the audience who would have been in on the joke.

The 1992 mockumentary ''[[Bob Roberts]]'' was also a political mystery filmed as a fake documentary. This time, there was no soundtrack album in spite of the importance of music in the film, as the film's writer, director and star [[Tim Robbins]] was concerned that the politically [[right wing|right-wing]] content would be taken too seriously and used by actual right-wing politicians.

[[Peter Jackson]]'s 1995 film ''[[Forgotten Silver]]'' was billed and introduced as a serious documentary, purporting to tell the story of 'forgotten' New Zealand filmmaker Colin McKenzie. A large portion of the viewing audience were fooled until the directors revealed they were "only joking."

The 1996 Canadian film ''[[Hard Core Logo]],'' about a [[punk band]], was done in the style of a documentary. As part of the film's promotional campaign, some ads were placed in music magazines from fake music collectors claiming to be looking for albums from the band. In lieu of a proper soundtrack album, the filmmakers instead produced an album called ''[[A Tribute to Hard Core Logo]]'' which pretended to be a tribute album to the non-existent band. One of the bands on the album, [[The Headstones]], featured singer [[Hugh Dillon]], who also starred in the movie as a singer of the fictional band. Most of the bands who actually did appear as themselves in the movie, such as [[Art Bergman]], [[The Modernettes]] and [[D.O.A. (band)|D.O.A.]], were not on the fake tribute album. A proper soundtrack album would be released much later. The fictional band's music was done by a real band named "Swamp Baby" with vocals by Dillon. The film also features rock journalists and DJs as themselves.

When the 1999 film ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'' was released, the extensive marketing campaign claimed it to be a real documentary, compiled from footage discovered abandoned in a forest. After the film's success, a soundtrack album was produced which was supposed to be made up of music one of the characters had on her [[walkman]] when she "disappeared," although the film itself has little music in it.

The 2004 film ''[[C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America]]'' is a political satire which explores issues of slavery and racism by assuming that the [[American Civil War]] was won by the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. The film is presented as a [[BBC]] television documentary which includes false television ads for racist products which, at the end of the movie, are revealed to have been real at some point in the 20th Century.

2005 Canadian film ''[[The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico]],'' about a country rock singer, was also done as a fake documentary with appearances by [[Kris Kristofferson]], [[Ronnie Hawkins]], [[Merle Haggard]] and [[Levon Helm]] playing themselves. The film was also released with a soundtrack album which pretended to be a genuine album from the fictional singer. There was also a promotional campaign with magazine ads and posters which implied that the character was real.

The 2006 film ''[[Death of a President (2006 film)|The Death of a President]]'' was filmed in the style of a television documentary, filmed years after the event, to tell the story of the fictional assassination of U.S. President [[George W. Bush]], and the aftermath, to realistic effect.

The 2008 film ''[[Cloverfield]]'' purports to be video footage shot by witnesses of a monster attacking New York City, and recovered by the US Army as evidence. It begins with a title screen claiming the footage was found in "US Site 447, formerly known as [[Central Park]]."

Documentary filmmaking, and other attempts at actual documentation, can wittingly and unwittingly participate in the form as its goals of authenticity are so closely aligned with direct false documentation (that is, in both cases, there is an element of authenticity and an element of narrative fudging). In [[Arnold Schwarzenegger|Schwarzenegger]]'s ''[[Pumping Iron]]'', for example, Arnold talks about how his father died in the months preceding a major bodybuilding competition. He uses this [[anecdote]] to illustrate how important the final months before a competition are to a truly dedicated bodybuilder. He says that, though his father's funeral was set during the penultimate month, he did not attend because he could not be distracted from training. However, in the companion book, it is revealed that at the time of printing, Arnold's father had not died. It does not say the story was a lie, it merely provides contrary evidence. Schwarzenegger was executive producer of both the film and the companion book. It has been theorized by Professor Sally Robinson that Schwarzenegger was intentionally undermining his own narrative, effectively creating a mildly self-deprecating re-examination of his own obsessions for perfection at any cost. In the end, whether Arnold intentionally fabricated the story, for a desired effect, is left to the audience (in interviews associated with the re-release of the film, he says he did).⏎
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== In art ==
Artist [[J. S. G. Boggs|JSG Boggs]]'s life and work have been extensively explored by author and journalist [[Lawrence Weschler]]. Boggs draws currency with exceptional care and accuracy, but he only ever draws one side. He then attempts to buy things with the piece of paper upon which he has drawn the currency. His goal is to pass each bill for its face value in common transactions. He buys lunch, clothes, and lodging in this manner, and after the transactions are complete, his bills fetc(contracted; show full)==References==
* [[Curtis Peebles]] (1994). ''Watch the Skies: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth'', [[Smithsonian Institution]], {{ISBN|1-56098-343-4}}

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[[Category:Narratology]]
[[Category:False documents| ]]