Anonymice Through the Ages

Those of you who frequent the comments on this blog know that we suffer from a surfeit of anonymice and perhaps should bait a few anonymouse traps for them.

But there is actually very long literary tradition of anonymous publication. Daphne Lee in Starmag reviews John Mullan's book Anonymity.

Mullan looks at the reasons for authors not wanting to reveal their identities and how this affected their readers once their real identities were revealed.

Daphne picks out some interesting examples, among them :

Jonathan Swift of Gulliver’s Travels’ fame is said to have been a mischief-maker, hiding his identity so he could enjoy the public’s frank reaction to and opinion of his works. As he was a social satirist, Swift’s books often provoked lively response, and he was not above commenting on his own creations simply to get a reaction from readers.

... Charlotte Brontë was also reluctant to admit that she was Currer Bell, author of Jane Eyre. She was so determined to maintain her anonymity that when, at a dinner party, the novelist W.M. Thackeray addressed her as “Currer Bell”, Brontë said she knew there were books by that person but that she was “Miss Brontë”, and that she saw no connection between the two. And yet, it must have been clear to Brontë that she had been invited to Thackeray’s party only because she was the author of a famous book. ...

There are more reviews of Mullan's book at the Independent, the Sunday Times, and the Observer among others. And I reckon I have to have this.