can you ever forgive me memoirs of a literary forger

Five hundred years later, Abelard expressed doubts about the authorship, but it was not until after the Renaissance that there was general agreement that the attribution of the work was false. One of the longest lasting literary forgeries is by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a 5th-6th century Syrian mystical writer who claimed to be a disciple of Paul the Apostle. According to historian Miriam Griffin, such bogus and romantic claims to antiquity were not uncommon at the time. Septimius then claimed the original had been handed to the governor of Crete, Rutilius Rufus, who gave the diary to Nero during his tour of Greece in 66-67 CE. In the letter of dedication, the translator gave additional credence to the document by claiming the Greek original had come to light during Nero's reign when Dictys' tomb was opened by an earthquake and his diary was discovered.

In the 3rd century CE, a certain Septimius produced what appeared to be a Latin translation of an eyewitness account to the Trojan War by Dictys of Crete. He invented prophecies, which he ascribed to the poet Musaeus. 530 – 480 BCE) is among the most ancient known literary forgers. Other common types of literary forgery may draw upon the potential historical cachet and novelty of a previously undiscovered author. The forger then claims that, not only is the style of writing the same, but also that the ink and paper are of the kind or type used by the famous author. This is less common, as it requires a great deal of technical effort, such as imitating the ink and paper. The forger may also fake the physical alleged original manuscript. The forger produces a writing which resembles the style of the known reputable author to whom the fake is to be attributed. In an attempt to gain the rewards of such a reputation, the forger often engages in two distinct activities. Literary forgery may involve the work of a famous author whose writings have an established intrinsic, as well as monetary, value. Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir or other presumably nonfictional writing deceptively presented as true when, in fact, it presents untrue or imaginary information or content.

Cover of The Songs of Bilitis (1894), a French pseudotranslation of Ancient Greek erotic poetry by Pierre Louÿs

Can you ever forgive me memoirs of a literary forger