Yesterday's Times brought word of Rohan Kriwaczek's An Incomplete History of the Art of the Funerary Violin, "a nonfiction account of a little-known genre of music that was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church and almost wiped out by the Great Funerary Purges of the 1830's and 40's." As it turns out, the book is a hoax:

But Mr. Kriwaczek's book, set for publication in Britain later this month by Duckworth Publishers, tricked even Peter Mayer, his publisher at the American publishing house Overlook, who bought the book last year believing it was an authentic historical work of nonfiction. (Duckworth referred all questions to Mr. Mayer.) "Maybe I have been fooled," Mr. Mayer said after a reporter asked about the book last week. "It is possible. But it reads so extraordinarily serious and passionate. If it is a hoax, I can only say, I have my cap off."

Our cap is off to Mr. Mayer, and the rest of the team at Overlook/Duckworth: Gawker has obtained a copy of the book, and it's pretty obviously a hoax, although a remarkably detailed one. So here's where it gets meta: the marketing campaign is also a hoax. The idea that anyone, including Peter Mayer, would assume this book to be non-fiction and then actually purchase it is more than a little incredible. But we love the idea that they're trying to sell a fake history of a fake musical genre with a fake premise on the title's acquisition. (RELATED: Does no one remember Nat Tate?)

In any event, our cursory scan of the book leads us to believe that it's a pretty solid read (and the inevitable MySpace page is likewise worthwhile). We're actually rather impressed at the effort Mr. Kriwaczek (if that is his real name) made in writing it. Clearly no one told him that all you needed to get a book deal these days is a poorly-punctuated blog.

British Author Espies a Funerary Violin Vacuum and So Fills It [NYT]
Guild of Funerary Violinists [MySpace]

Contact information for this author is not available.