Jan Gaston Rawls

Jan Gaston Rawls (b. circa 1890 - d. September 18, 1955) is a poet and American writer. He is a minor figure in American literature, and his biography is relatively unknown to the present day. The lack of information about him and the rarity of his works has led some critics to argue that he may be a fictitious author.
Biography
It has been supposed, in the light of certain details of his texts, that Rawls was abandoned at birth. He would have been taken in by the Rawls family who gave him his first and last names. His date of birth remains obscure, as it does not appear in any population registry. He stopped his studies at age 13 and becomed a garage mechanic. As he did not achieve any studies, he lived an obscure existence on the Est coast of the United States. During a stay in Poughkeepsie, he died in his hotel room on the night of the 17th to the 18th of September 1955.
Works
We only know two works by Rawls that are today out of print and very difficult to find.
1° The Hourglass of Alexandro Ximenez. This is a collection made of 6 texts in poetical prose, the longest being the eponymous text. It is a pseudo-mystic short story about 15 pages long inspired by the travel book [http://books.google.ch/books/about/Les_Nestoriens_ou_les_tribus_perdues.html?idIqkPAAAAQAAJ&redir_escy The Nestorians or the Lost Tribe by Asahel Grant (1851)]. The other texts are quite abstruse and make think of bad surrealists texts.
2° The Chronoception is a work illustrated by the author, obviously from alchemical inspiration. Due to its form, the text makes think to a collection of poems and even resembles due to certain aspects to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake, even though the themes treated are not the same. The Chronoception was published at the author's own expense at Ithaca in 1912. The impression never exceeded about fifty copies. It has never been printed again to this day.
In an article about obscure literature, D. Schwartz suggests that there may exist other texts by Rawls, but that they were maybe published under other names.
Controversy
The blur surrounding Rawls identity and the difficulties encountered to find the texts, lead some researchers to say that Rawls never existed and that it may be a sophomore's hoax. Two students, namely, tried to write about him: William Nylard and Raul Lemburg. Their thesis' subject was refused and they were expelled from Rutgers University for deceit. Some think that these students were the actual author of the texts. Indeed, the name of the author tends to confirm this hypothesis, as it is a combination of the first names of Nylard and Lemburg. Nevertheless, the suspicions that weight on the authenticity of the texts should not veil their literary interest.
Bibliography
* [http://kvk.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/hylib-bin/kvk/nph-kvk2.cgi?maskekvk-last&titleKIT+Library%3A+Karlsruhe+Virtual+Catalog+KVK+%3A+Search+results&head=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-head-en-2010-11-08.html&header=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-header-en-2010-11-08.html&spacer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-spacer-en-2010-11-08.html&footer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de%2Fkvk%2Fkvk%2Fkvk-kit-footer-en-2010-11-08.html&cssnone&langen&input-charsetutf-8&kvk-sessionXECR7ISN&ALLchronoception&target_blank&Timeout120&TI&PY&AU&SB&CI&SS&ST&PU&katalogeVKCH_RERO&inhibit_redirect=1 RAWLS, J. G., The Chronoception : a hermetic story, Ithaca, 1912.]
* RAWLS, J. G.,The Hourglass of Alexandro Ximenez, ,
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