Hoaxes and Falsifications

[Marcus Levitt]

Dear Colleagues,
  Andrei Toporkov of IMLI in Moscow has an exciting idea for a joint
Russian-American conference, and is looking for an American
partner to help set it up.
  The idea for the conference is: Literary and Historical Falsifi-
cations, Hoaxes, and Fakes in Russian Culture.  This would cover
all time periods.  Andrei and his colleagues in Moscow are
working on an anthology of faked folklore materials, from imitation
epic poetry to faked folkloric texts, but he would like to broaden the
scope of the conference to include such things as debates over the
authenticity of the Igor Tale and other medieval works; historical
falsifications; literary mystifications in modern Russian literature;
historical falsifications during the Stalin period; and contemporary
charlatanism and other sorts of falsifications.   He is also hoping to
publish a volume of conference procedings, and even has an
interested publisher lined up.
  Would you be interested in helping Andrei to set up such a
conference, or to take part in such an event (i.e., give a paper)?
  Please get in touch with me if you would lilke to get involved, or if
you have questions, comments or ideas.  (Andrei does not use e-
mail).  Sincerely, M. Levitt



Marcus C. Levitt, Associate Professor
Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures
The University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4353

Please note that all e-mail should be sent to me at
<Levitt at usc.edu> and not to <Levitt at hermes.usc.edu>.

tel. (213) 740-2740
fax  (213) 740-8550