Why do some writers use pseudonyms? Many people write under an assumed name. Indeed all the columnists for The Economist— Bagehot, Lexington, Schumpeter and the like— write under inherited pseudonyms. For novelists this practice has long been widespread. In the 19th century Mary Ann Evans took on the name George Eliot in order to separate her novels, such as "Adam Bede" and "Middlemarch", from flowery female-novelist stereotypes. In America around the same time Samuel Langhorne Clemens published fiction under the name Mark Twain (pictured above, with Eliot and Ms Rowling). Novelists who want to write crime fiction on the side have long masked their identities. John Banville, an Irish novelist who won the Man Booker prize in 2005, writes crime novels as Benjamin Black. Julian Barnes, another Man Booker-winning author, writes thrillers as Dan Kavanagh. And crime writers themselves may also take on different personas. When Agatha Christie, one of the masters of the dagger-and-cyanide genre, wanted to write romantic fiction, she did so as Mary Westmacott. Patricia Highsmith, the author of "The Talented Mr Ripley", a gruesome thriller of swapped identities, published "The Price of Salt", a lesbian romance, under the name Claire Morgan.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:42:03 +0000
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