Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Previous Work
Relevance of Hoaxes to Current Scholarly Concerns
Chapter Summaries
1. A Brief Natural History of Hoaxing

Swift’s Hoax and Satires
Parody
Nineteenth-Century Fraud, Tall Tales, and Science Fiction in America
Kairos

2. Method

The Search for a Method: The Traditional and Philological Genealogies of Linguistic Approaches to Literature Optimality Theory
A Brief Tutorial: Optimality Theory for Reception Studies

3. Poe’s Hoaxing and the Construction of Readerships

Overview of Poe’s Scientific and Rhetorical Acculturation
The Contest between “Hans Phaall” and Locke’s Moon Hoax: Revealing Reader Expectations
Collecting Reader Expectations
The Balloon-Hoax
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Von Kempelen and His Discovery
Solutions to Problems in Poe Scholarship
Poe’s Relationship to Science and to His Readership: How the Hoaxes Interact with Eureka

4. Mark Twain and the Social Mechanics of Laughter

Rhetorical Acculturation
Scientific Acculturation
The Petrified Man
Adjusting the Filter of Expectations to Account for Twain’s Hoaxing
Applying the Analysis to Problems in Twain Scholarship
Relationship of the Hoax to Twain’s Scientific Thinking
The Social Mechanics of Laughter

5. The Hoaxes of Dan De Quille: Building and Defending the West

Rhetorical Acculturation
Scientific Acculturation
De Quille’s Hoaxes
Summary of Reading Expectations Based on De Quille’s Hoaxes
De Quille’s Hoaxes Build and Defend His Ideal West

6. The Mechanics of Hoaxing

How Did the Hoaxes Work?
The Hoax as a Machine

Conclusion
Conclusion: The Sokal Hoax

Exploiting the Conventions of the Cultural Studies Article
Sokal’s Hoax Constructs Him as a Notorious Expert
The Hoax as a Computer Virus

Appendix A: How to Read Tables in Optimality Theory (OT)

What the Parts of the Table Mean
The Results of the Syllabification of /Anset/
Optimality Theory Applied to a Decision about a Hoax’s Truth-Value

Appendix B
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index