The contemporary significance of the figure and work of George Psalmanazar lies in his role as a crucible for 18th-century conceptions of identity construction, the production of knowledge, and the nascent understanding of race. As a white, blond Frenchman who successfully passed as a native of Formosa (modern-day Taiwan), Psalmanazar’s career illustrates that in the early Enlightenment, identity was defined more by behavior, language, and religion than by biological "race," a concept that Michael Keevak argues did not yet exist in its modern form. His ability to take London by storm in 1703 by adopting "antipodal" habits—such as eating raw meat and performing made-up religious rituals—highlights a period where the "Other" was understood through changeable, outward traits.
His major work, An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, remains academically significant as a masterful Orientalist fantasy that utilized existing stereotypes to build a credible, if wholly fabricated, culture. Psalmanazar’s argumentation was so sophisticated that he could turn legitimate objections into evidence for his own claims; for instance, he justified his fair complexion by claiming the Formosan nobility lived entirely in cool, underground apartments. This work demonstrates the powerlessness of "firsthand" information to debunk a consistent lie; even when eyewitness accounts from missionaries like Candidius were available, Psalmanazar argued they had only met "coasters" and that the "true" Formosa lay undiscovered inland.
The invented Formosan language and alphabet constitute perhaps his most remarkable contribution to linguistic history. This was not merely gibberish but a systematic, grammatical construction so "regular" that it was studied by legitimate polymaths like Leibniz and included as a valid specimen in polyglot Lord’s Prayer collections for over a century. Academically, this underscores a unique historical moment where fictional and "scientific" linguistic study became inextricably blurred, allowing a fake script to be professionals cut into fonts by imperial printing houses.
Furthermore, the figure of Psalmanazar is significant for his connection to Samuel Johnson, who reverenced him as the "best man" he had ever known. This reverence was based on the concept of "regularity" and moral transformation. Johnson viewed Psalmanazar’s later life of obscure, exhaustive labor on the Universal History as truly "uniform," suggesting that the same methodical discipline required to maintain a complex hoax could be redirected toward an exemplary life of piety and penitence.
Ultimately, Psalmanazar serves as a personification of the "Great Wall of Europe," a mental border that allowed Europeans to Detected only their own preoccupations in the "strangers" they encountered. His final identity as a Hebrew scholar, often referred to as "the Jew Psalmanazar," reinforces his status as a permanent cultural outsider. His significance persists as a study in how consistency and "anima fuerte" (bold spirit) can construct an identity so robust that it remains a subject of academic inquiry long after the imposture itself has been confessed.
