Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1892-01-21
NOTABLE PEN NAMES.
FAMOUS WRITER'S WHO USEs
ASSUMED NAMES.
The Great Majority Arc Novelists or
Poets-Reas ons for Their Adop-
tiou--Identity Il Seldom
COnce aled.

names in publishing their BOOKS may
be counted by the score. and the vast
majority OF them are either novelists
or poets. The heavy fathers Of litera-
ture evidently feel that the publica-
ton of their names Is necessary. both
as a guarantee OF good faith and as an
acceptance OF personal responsibility
for the accuracy OF their work.
Be it not supposed. however, that
there are no reasons for so deliberate
u choice. says the Saturday Evening
Post.
Charlotte Bronte for instance, on
Sehalf of herself and her sisters. En-
lily and Anne, expressly stated that
they adopted the names of .Currer.
Ellis. and Acton Bell" because they
were averse from personal publicity.
They selected names that gave no pos
tive clue to sex. for. on the one hand
they had scruples about assuming
niames that were undoubtedly mascu-
l ne. and on the other. they did not
l Ike to declare themselves women, b.
cause they had vague impression
That authoresses were liable to be
looked on with prejudice. They found
1t difficult however. to keep up the
deception. OF course, the re-
viewers regarded them as their BROTH
ers; but that didn't matter. But when
it came to pass that London pub
Usher assured an American publisher
that. to the best OF his belief. three
distinct novels the separate work of
each of the three famous sisters, were
all written by the same author. they
decided to throw of the disguise in
order to clear their character as hon.
est women. And so Charlotte and
Anne hurried up to London from the
remote Yorkshire parsonage and
made themselves known in their prop
or persons to Mr.. Smith. the founder
OF the firm Of Smith. Elder & Co.
Boys and girls Of all ages have read
'.Alice in Wonderland. which was
written. according TO the title page. by
Lewis Carroll. 1t has often been as
serted that Mr. Carroll was none other
than the Rev. c. l.. Dodgson. But
Mr.. Dodgson himself claims NO con-
nection with any nom de plume what
over" In HE opinion pen names are
usually assumed for the purpose Of Sc
curing complete privacy. In some
cases this was the motive. but how
vain 10 the effort! There is but one
solitary instance In which the secrecy
of the pen name has been successfully
maintained Not q single soul has
yet penetrated the mystery Of jun
i,,a "
Some writer's seem to have adopted
q nom de plume merely as q within.
The lisp of little girl "a relatively
who calling her by her first name of
Louisa" sounded it as ..Weedie. i
gave Miss de la Rance the hint for her
pen name Of 'Ouida. And the Boz
of Charles Dickens likewise originated
In an attempt OF o younger brother to
pronounce the name OF Moses"
Paul Blouet has related how he came
to take the name OF MAX ORell. :"
His grandfather an officer in the
French army, was called Max Blouet
During the war with the first Napo-
leon he was taken prisoner and sent
to England. where he fell In love with
an Irish girl named O'Rel.. He mar
ried her. taking her back with him to
France And go the grandson came by
his pen name first used on the title
page Of John Bull and His Island. !"
Lord Lytton. the late British am
bassador in Paris wrote considera-
BILE number OF poems under the nom
de plume OF "Owen Meredith, which
was suggested to him In rather an in
teresting way. Some OF the coats oil
arms representing the pedigree OF his
lordship's family on the paternal side
which decorate the windows at Kneb-
worth are responsible for the choice.
One OF them was that OF Owen Tudor
and the other that OF Ann Meredith.
/, Much the same reason was given by
one Of the very greatest geniuses In
fiction for publishing his novel with
,oHt any name at all. Sir Walter Scott
avowed that his original motive for
publishing ..Waverley" (Which ap.
,peared in ls41) anony mously was the
consciousness that It was an expert
ment on the public taste which might
very probably fall. and therefore there
was no occasion to take on himself thu
personal risk OF discomforture. When
he found that the experiment was a
colossal success. he might have dis,
closed himself. But he had now en-.
tered into the humor Of concealment.
and his subsequent works were an
nounced as by the Author Of Waiver
ley.'n Though. in course of time his
secret passed into the keeping Of al
least twenty different persons, so loyal
were they to the Great unknown
that ii was not till the 2Srd Of Feb.
urary, 1927. that Sir Walter Scott
publicly acknowledged the authorship
of the novels ut the dinner OF the Edin.
buvgh Theatrical Fund.
Mr.. ID. X. Locke's nom de plume Of
petroleum Vesuvius Nasty" had g
quaint origin. Nasty was sort Of
remembrance OF the battle of tina,
name. The petroleum fever raging
in Pennsylvania at the time that the
.'Nasby Letters" were begun. sug
gestod the title petroleum" and
.Vesuvius" was added for the sake oil
euphony.