Can you ever forgive me?: memoirs of a literary forger
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Description
Before turning to her life of crime-running a one-woman forgery business out of a phone booth in a Greenwich Village bar and even dodging the FBI, Lee Israel had a legitimate career as an author of biographies. Her first book on Tallulah Bankhead was a New York Times bestseller, and her second, on the late journalist and reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, made a splash in the headlines. But by 1990, almost broke and desperate to hang onto her Upper West Side studio, Lee made a bold and irreversible career change: inspired by a letter she'd received once from Katharine Hepburn, and armed with her considerable skills as a researcher and celebrity biographer, she began to forge letters in the voices of literary greats. Between 1990 and 1991, she wrote more than three hundred letters in the voices of, among others, Dorothy Parker, Louise Brooks, Edna Ferber, Lillian Hellman, and Noel Coward-and sold the forgeries to memorabilia and autograph dealers.
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Citations
Israel, L. (2018). Can you ever forgive me?: memoirs of a literary forger. Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Israel, Lee. 2018. Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Israel, Lee, Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2018.
MLA Citation (style guide)Israel, Lee. Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger. Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2018.
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Record Information
| Last Sierra Extract Time | Jun 27, 2025 05:14:39 PM |
|---|---|
| Last File Modification Time | Jun 27, 2025 05:15:13 PM |
| Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Jul 02, 2025 10:23:43 PM |
MARC Record
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| 037 | |b Simon & Schuster, Order Dept 100 Front st, Riverside, NJ, USA, 08075 |n SAN 200-2442 | ||
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| 050 | 1 | 4 | |a PN171.F6 |b I87 2018 |
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| 082 | 0 | 4 | |a B |2 23 |
| 100 | 1 | |a Israel, Lee, |e author. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79091294 | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Can you ever forgive me? : |b memoirs of a literary forger / |c Lee Israel. |
| 250 | |a Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition. | ||
| 264 | 1 | |a New York : |b Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, |c 2018. | |
| 264 | 4 | |c ©2008 | |
| 300 | |a x, 129 pages ; |c 22 cm | ||
| 336 | |a text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a unmediated |b n |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a volume |b nc |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 505 | 0 | |a Brick and pigeons -- Wretched and excessive -- A Mayan minute -- The flies -- Slippery slope -- Cousin Sidney -- Louise -- Riffing -- Faux Louise -- Dorothy -- Noël -- The jig is up -- Violets for his furs -- Trimester two -- This ain't no country club, Lee -- Prep time -- My third trimester. | |
| 520 | |a Before turning to her life of crime-running a one-woman forgery business out of a phone booth in a Greenwich Village bar and even dodging the FBI, Lee Israel had a legitimate career as an author of biographies. Her first book on Tallulah Bankhead was a New York Times bestseller, and her second, on the late journalist and reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, made a splash in the headlines. But by 1990, almost broke and desperate to hang onto her Upper West Side studio, Lee made a bold and irreversible career change: inspired by a letter she'd received once from Katharine Hepburn, and armed with her considerable skills as a researcher and celebrity biographer, she began to forge letters in the voices of literary greats. Between 1990 and 1991, she wrote more than three hundred letters in the voices of, among others, Dorothy Parker, Louise Brooks, Edna Ferber, Lillian Hellman, and Noel Coward-and sold the forgeries to memorabilia and autograph dealers. | ||
| 600 | 1 | 0 | |a Israel, Lee. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79091294 |
| 650 | 0 | |a Forgers |z United States |v Biography. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Authors, American |y 20th century |v Biography. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2007100576 | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Literary forgeries and mystifications. |0 http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85077489 | |
| 775 | 0 | 8 | |i Reproduction of (manifestation) |
| 775 | 0 | 8 | |a Israel, Lee. |t Can you ever forgive me? |d New York : Simon & Schuster, 2008 |z 9781416588672 |
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