As noted in his job application for a post as professor of eighteenth-century literature, Manfred Mickleson's dissertation, "informed by feminist theory, queer theory, cultural materialism, eco-criticism, and postcolonial studies," focuses on "masculine authority and feminine desire in eighteenth-century pirate literature." Mickleson received six invitations to be interviewed at the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, despite the fact that both he and his résumé were made up by academic hoaxers.

†