# Hocus Bogus

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Book by Romain Gary

Hocus Bogus First edition Author Émile Ajar (Romain Gary) Original title Pseudo Translator David Bellos Language French Publisher Mercure de France Publication date 1976 Publication place France Published in English 2010 Pages 213

***Hocus Bogus*** ([French](/source/French_language): ***Pseudo***) is a 1976 novel by the French writer [Romain Gary](/source/Romain_Gary), published under the pseudonym Émile Ajar. The book was written after Paul Pavlowitch, the son of Gary's cousin, had been presented as the man behind the pseudonym Ajar. It asserts to tell the story of Pavlowitch's literary experiences from his own perspective, and comments on the recent success with *[The Life Before Us](/source/The_Life_Before_Us)*, the subsequent speculation that the author might be Gary, as well as explains his reclusiveness with the revelation that he has schizophrenia.

## Reception

[Michael Dirda](/source/Michael_Dirda) reviewed the book in *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)* in 2010, and wrote that "In truth, *Hocus Bogus* is an utterly convincing impersonation of an artistically gifted schizophrenic, worthy to stand on the same shelf as [Paul Ableman](/source/Paul_Ableman)'s classic *I Hear Voices* and Louis Wolfson's *Le Schizo et les Langues*." Dirda commented on how the book successfully had suppressed the rumours that Ajar was somebody else than Pavlowitch, and continued: "Nowadays, we can more fully appreciate the tour de force that Gary brings off[.] ... To read *Hocus Bogus* in [Bellos](/source/David_Bellos)'s superb translation is to marvel at its dizzyingly distorted syntax ('I don't speak Danish, but not well enough'), constant wit ('reptiles are always first in the firing line when it comes to hate speech') and sheer energy."[1]

## See also

- [1976 in literature](/source/1976_in_literature)

- [20th-century French literature](/source/20th-century_French_literature)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Dirda, Michael](/source/Michael_Dirda) (2010-03-04). ["Book review: Michael Dirda reviews 'Hocus Bogus' by Romain Gary (& Emile Ajar)"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR2010030303614.html). *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*. Retrieved 2012-02-19.

v t e Romain Gary Novels The Roots of Heaven (1956) Lady L. (1958) Promise at Dawn (1960) The Ski Bum (1965) White Dog (1970) The Life Before Us (1975) Hocus Bogus (1976) Clair de femme (1977) Films Birds in Peru (1968) Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971) Adaptations The Roots of Heaven (1958) The Man Who Understood Women (1959) Lady L (1965) Birds in Peru (1968) Promise at Dawn (1970) The Ski Bum (1971) Madame Rosa (1977) Womanlight (1979) Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1981) White Dog (1982) Promise at Dawn (2017) The Life Ahead (2020) White Dog (2022)

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