A Princely Ploy: Inside the Ruse of a French-Armenian Scammer

After proclaiming himself the direct descendant of a 12th-century Crusader king, the Armenian priest and educator Ambroise Calfa hit upon an ignoble scheme: grant knighthood to anyone willing to pay. Jennifer Manoukian recovers the cunning exploits of this forgotten 19th-century conman, whose initially honorable intentions quickly escalated into all-out fraud. more

The Public Domain Review is dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas – focusing on works now fallen into the public domain, the vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restrictions.

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“… a gold mine of fantastic images and stories.”

The New York Times

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Conjectures
[*Door creaks open. Footsteps*]: Fredric Jameson’s Seminar on *Aesthetic Theory*

[Door creaks open. Footsteps]: Fredric Jameson’s Seminar on Aesthetic Theory

By meticulously translating his recordings of Jameson’s seminars into the theatrical idiom of the stage script, ​​Octavian Esanu asks, playfully and tenderly, if we can see pedagogy as performance? Teaching and learning, about art — as a work of art? more

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