2. Hocus Bogus
by Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar)

Described by translator David Bellos, aptly, as "one of the most alarmingly effective mystifications in all literature," Hocus Bogus (originally published in French as Pseudo) is a fake memoir, but not in the James Frey sense. This literary hoax, which first appeared in 1976, purported to be an autobiographical novel in which the mentally ill protagonist, Paul Pawlovitch, admitted to being the bestselling author Émile Ajar. Although Ajar's identity had been a source of much speculation in France, he did not exist: This name was actually a mask of Romain Gary, who was the real author of Hocus Bogus. Born Roman Kacew in Lithuania, Gary was rich and famous but felt bored as himself. (He was also disgusted by what he viewed as the cronyism of the French literary establishment.) He adopted "Émile Ajar" instead, but once his alter ego, like him, became a prize-winning author, Gary panicked and realized that he needed someone to play the role in public. For this he recruited a distant relative—Paul Pawlovitch—who happily obliged, and both men outwitted the media and the public. Eventually, though, Gary felt cornered by his lies. As a means of satisfying people's curiosity, he produced Hocus Bogus. "I wrote my books in various hospitals on doctors' advice," he admitted (falsely). "They said it would be therapeutic." This book, which sold only modestly, destroyed Gary's relationship with Pawlovitch, who was furious that Gary had used his real name in this faux confession and had portrayed him as a lunatic. Gary, who had succeeded in throwing people off his scent with Hocus Bogus, fell into a major depression. In December 1980 he committed suicide in his Paris apartment. Yet Gary had secretly written another account of his Ajar pseudonym—the full truth this time—and wanted it released only posthumously. Called "The Life and Death of Émile Ajar," this fascinating piece is reprinted at the end of the English-translated edition of Hocus Bogus. "I've had a lot of fun," Gary signed off. "Good-bye, and thank you."

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