Literary forgery

Literary forgery is the deliberate presentation of fabricated writing, or writing falsely attributed to another author, as genuine. It can imitate historical documents, literary styles, or an author's identity.

Pseudepigraphy: The practice of attributing a text to an author who did not write it, especially in ancient literature. It distinguishes false authorial attribution from fabrication of the text itself.
Donation of Constantine: A forged imperial document claiming that Constantine granted extensive authority and territories to the papacy. Its medieval authority rested on a fabricated grant presented as Roman law.
Konrad Kujau: A German forger who created the purported Hitler diaries that were exposed in 1983. His case links forged authorship to modern publishing and authentication failures.
Pseudonym: A fictitious name adopted by an author, commonly without a claim that the name belongs to a historical person. A pen name is not forgery when it does not falsely claim an existing author's identity.
Historical revisionism: The reinterpretation of historical accounts, sometimes through selective evidence or distortion. Forged documents can be used to manufacture evidence for a revised historical narrative.
Paleography: The study of historical handwriting and writing systems, used to date and interpret manuscripts. Handwriting can expose a forged document when it conflicts with its claimed date.
Protocols of the Elders of Zion: A fabricated antisemitic text published in Russia in the early twentieth century as a secret Jewish conspiracy plan. Its false documentary framing turned invented writing into purported evidence.
Joseph Scaliger: A sixteenth-century scholar whose work helped establish critical methods for studying chronology and classical texts. Historical criticism supplies tools for testing texts that claim ancient origins.
Literary hoax: A deliberate literary deception designed to mislead an audience, often as a prank or commentary. Hoaxes overlap with forgery but can deceive about events or meaning rather than authorship.
Canonical literature: Works regarded as central or authoritative within a literary tradition or educational curriculum. False discoveries can alter judgments about an author's canon and historical influence.

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