Making Taking a name for yourself

A couple of years ago, Curtis Wallen wrote about the experience of inventing a person and then making them disappear for the Atlantic. A few months later, in the London Review Of Books, Andrew O'Hagan reported on his experience of doing much the same thing - though this time using the name of a real person who died young and inventing a backstory and posthumous life for him (thereby copying a strategy adopted by the Metropolitan Police Force in the 1960s).

(Thanks to Adam for the link.)