His 12 books, supposedly based on meetings with a mysterious Indian shaman, don Juan, made the author, a graduate student in anthropology, a worldwide celebrity. Deemed by Time magazine the 'Godfather of the New Age,' Castaneda was the literary embodiment of the Woodstock era. If this name draws a blank for readers under 30, all they have to do is ask their parents. There's been, however, hardly a mention of the 20th century's most successful literary trickster: Carlos Castaneda. Much has been written about the slippery boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, the publishing industry's responsibility for distinguishing between the two, and the potential damage to readers. We've had the unmasking of James Frey, JT LeRoy/Laura Albert and Harvard's Kaavya Viswanathan, who plagiarized large chunks of her debut novel, forcing her publisher, Little, Brown and Co., to recall the book. Currently, we have Richard Gere starring as Clifford Irving in 'The Hoax,' a film about the '70s novelist who penned a faux autobiography of Howard Hughes.
For fans of the literary con, it's been a great few years.