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http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index...tures-of-early-modern-walter-mitty-go-on-show
The fictitious adventures of a 17th century con artist, who fooled London society for years with his made-up travellers’ tales, are being put on public display at St John’s College, Cambridge for the first time as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
The 1704 work, The History of Formosa, describes in great detail the culture, language and customs of the island nation of Formosa, modern-day Taiwan. The book was supposedly written by a native of Formosa who was brought to Europe by Jesuit missionaries, but all is not as it seems.
An early Walter Mitty
The catch is that the author, who called himself ‘George Psalmanazar’, was actually a white, blond-haired Frenchman who had never left Europe. Every detail of Formosan life that the book describes is completely made up. Psalmanazar was a fantasist who, like an early Walter Mitty, spent his life in a world of his own imagination. His hoax was so successful that to this day, we still don’t know his real name.
The fictitious adventures of a 17th century con artist, who fooled London society for years with his made-up travellers’ tales, are being put on public display at St John’s College, Cambridge for the first time as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
The 1704 work, The History of Formosa, describes in great detail the culture, language and customs of the island nation of Formosa, modern-day Taiwan. The book was supposedly written by a native of Formosa who was brought to Europe by Jesuit missionaries, but all is not as it seems.
An early Walter Mitty
The catch is that the author, who called himself ‘George Psalmanazar’, was actually a white, blond-haired Frenchman who had never left Europe. Every detail of Formosan life that the book describes is completely made up. Psalmanazar was a fantasist who, like an early Walter Mitty, spent his life in a world of his own imagination. His hoax was so successful that to this day, we still don’t know his real name.
