Summary

Deception is a central preoccupation in the Western discursive tradition. Within this context, deceptive texts constitute a metagenre that borrows from the array of conventional forms. Its history twins that of narrative traditions whose productions the fakes mimic. Intent, context, effect, and the nature of the deception inform categorizations of hoax, fraud, plagiarism, and forgery. Across these modes, recognition of the deception precedes analysis of a textual fake as such. Mirroring conventional productions, textual fakes imitate what culture values. Their investigation attends to purposes that writers and readers pursue as they participate in the life of a text. Across discursive spheres, representation interacts with the real, the virtual transforms the concrete, the technological inflects the natural. Such categories remain essential for analysis even as they blend in practice. Technological platforms that amplify the written word also expand the range of textual deceptions. Contemporary forms from phishing emails to fake news tweets share mechanisms of deception with literary and other textual fakes, from the fabricated autobiography to the allegedly ancient verse attributed to a nonexistent bard.