Impostors analyzes two national traditions of literary hoaxing: those in the United States and in France, arguing that the latter has not received the attention it merits. In a context of open identity politics in the US, intercultural imposture makes perfect sense. But in France, where a universalist Republican ideology holds sway, it is more paradoxical: is there any otherness to be stolen? This text argues that there is plenty, and that a long tradition of such theft exists.