watching the movie it seem as though he was desperate guy. in reality he says he he had many books under his belt and stuff like that. did he ever give a reason for why he did what he did. ive never read the book i don;t really want to any one know why he did it? does it say in the book>>>??
shareNo, he never really says why he did it in his book. I've kind of got my own theory though. He had just written a successful book called FAKE! about a famous art forger who painted and sold fake paintings of famous painters. This forger was famous. And along with Irving's book FAKE! being so popular even the great Orson Welles got caught up in it and based his classic mockmumentary F IS FOR FAKE which included Clifford Irving in the movie. I think Irving truly got caught up totally in this pop culture craze milieu and believed being a fraud/hoaxster was the sign of the times and a harmless and acceptable way to steer a career. And who was to be his victim? None other than Howard Hughes. I don't think young people understand the fascination and mystery surrounding Howard Hughes at that time. He was big. Think of the Britney Spears craze of today and multiply it 10 times and you might get an inkling of what the world's richest reclusive presented to the public at that time.
Anyways. It's still a mystery to me why Irving did it -- but this is the closest I can come to rationalize his deeds.