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Synopsis
A renowned journalist delves into the deeply disturbed mind of Mark Hofmann, one of the most daring literary forgers and merciless killers of the late twentieth century, whose greatest deception was a forged Emily Dickinson poem, which led to fame and fortune, forcing him to commit atrocious crimes in order to keep his forgery a secret. Reprint.
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About the Author
Simon Worrall has published articles in the Sunday Review, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and National Geographic magazine, among others. The Poet and the Murderer is his first book.
From Publishers Weekly
In the spirit of The Island of Lost Maps, journalist Worrall's compelling debut explores the career of a counterfeit artist and the world of literary forgery. When a newly discovered poem by Emily Dickinson surfaced in a Sotheby's auction in 1997, a library in the poet's hometown quickly snatched it up. Four months later, however, the poem was returned as fake; it was the work of Mark Hofmann, a rare books dealer and a master falsifier who was then in prison for murder. Using the Dickinson incident as a guide, Worrall reconstructs the life and crimes of the 20th century's best forger (Hofmann's fake of the 17th-century "Oath of a Freeman" passed a carbon 14 dating test). A Mormon by birth, Hofmann had a contempt for his religion that led him to counterfeit its missing sacred documents: he made his own inks, used chemicals to "age" the paper, fabricated documents to authenticate others and spread misinformation to bolster his authority. The lies and subterfuges of this meticulous though imperfect confidence man resulted in the murder of two innocent people, one of them a man who could have exposed him. Some of Worrall's depictions of minor characters feel a bit hackneyed, but his rendering of Hofmann's deep-seated frustrations is engrossing, and positing the forger's quasi-political subversions against the Mormon faith and what he saw as its illusions makes for a juicy read. A history of literary forgery and forensic accounting of handwriting keeps the pages turning, though a late return to the reclusive Dickinson feels like a forced justification of the title. Photos not seen by PW. (May)Forecast: This should be widely reviewed, and fans of literature and true crime will stream to the bookstores.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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- PublisherPlume
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 0452284023
- ISBN 13 9780452284029
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages288
- Rating
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