“He wrote a poem but did not sign his name
It was read by all, it got wide fame!
It was better this way and he was glad
’cause in the minds of all he was pretty mad!”
We used to have some very interesting stories in our english books in school; though I do not remember the authors of most of them, one used to strike me! The author was called Saki! Since it was a such a simple name to remember, I used to like the name and the stories written by him!
Later on I got to know that the author’s real name is not Saki! But H Munro! Of course like a rose with any other name…
Same thing with a novel called The Rozabel Line by Shawn Haighins! It was a very well researched and engaging novel by an Englishman and I liked it very much! Later on I got to know that the Novel was written by an Indian! And the name is an anagram of his actual name Ashwin Sanghi! I still read his other novels with equal enthusiasm!
Which brings us to the pen name!
Some very famous authors have used pen names and it has been a revolution of sorts!
As far as Saki was concerned he used the pen name for his fiction which allowed him to satirise contemporary society. It gave him license to express a darkly comic side which contrasted with society’s expectations of him as the son of a British colonial official!
A pen name is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author’s name more distinctive, to disguise the author’s gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to merge multiple persons into a single identifiable author, or for any of several reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work! This is the wiki definition!
The real identity can be like a blind study! Sometimes only the author knows the real identity while some times only the author and publisher!
The origin has been attributed to the French-language phrase nom de plume which is occasionally still seen as a synonym for the English term “pen name”, although this usage is apparently not French!
Some famous (or infamous in other country!) people may use pen name or a modification of their name to assert their identity in contrast to the common norm of using pen name to hide it! Like in 1899 the British politician Winston Churchill wrote under the name Winston S. Churchill to distinguish his writings from those of the American novelist of the same name!
Many authors especially those who write erotic or more adult work may also use the pen name to hide even after their identity is known to make it less obvious!
There are some who write both fiction and non fiction genre and may then use the Pen Name specific to each genre!
Occasionally, a pen name is employed to avoid overexposure!
Stephen King published four novels under the name Richard Bachman because publishers did not feel the public would buy more than one novel per year from a single author! But of course intelligent readers found a large number of style similarities, publishers revealed Bachman’s true identity!
Sometimes a pen name is used because an author believes that their name does not suit the genre they are writing in!
Here an interesting story is there of Romain Gary, who was a well-known French writer, who decided in 1973 to write novels in a different style under the name Émile Ajar and even asked his cousin’s son to impersonate Ajar!
Luckily (or not!) he received the most prestigious French literary prize twice, which is forbidden by the prize rules!
He revealed the affair in a book he sent his editor just before committing suicide in 1980!
A pen name may be shared by different writers to suggest continuity of authorship and also may be used by series depicting a combination of people who have written the book with the same theme!
Some very clever authors may also use some specific pen names to move their books in more favorable positions in bookshops or libraries! They do this to maximize visibility when placed on shelves that are conventionally arranged alphabetically moving horizontally, then upwards vertically!
Ashwin of course used it to get the feel that a foreign or a ‘Convent’ educated writer has written the book! I have also selected a pen name for myself for this very reason! I would use it when my first book gets published! Of course some authors do not need any pen name since their work is so good and so well known! A prime example of this is the birthday celebrity Ruskin Bond!
Now pen a name on the book you have bought and do some light reading before you sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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