Arizona republican., 1909-02-04
NoMS DE PLUME
 OF WOMEN WRITERS
Novelists Tell Why They Use Mascu'
 line Names.

men novelists choose to write under masculine pseudonyms are given by number of famous English writers, as follows:
 Charles Marlowe (Miss Harriet Jay): I write plays under the name of Charles Marlowe" because, being think it better to keep the one quite distinct from the other
 My reason for choosing this partic- ular name is simple. When the idea of using a dramatic nom de plume first occurred to me I happened to be writing a comedy which was after ward produced at the vaudeville the ater under the title of Presentation" 1" The leading part in this play-that of a girl who impersonates a .boy-I cre- ated myself. and made in it a great success, The name of the girl was Lady Madge Hazelton, that of the boy Charles Marlowe. I have used the name ever since.
 A Bitter Literary Truth.
 John Strange Winter (Mrs. Arthur Stannard): On the whole I think it is to a woman's disadvantage to write as a man, as it may convey an idea to some people that she is not good enough to stand on her own person. ality.
 The bitter truth was that my first publishers refused to bring out Cav airy Life" under a feminine pseud- onym. I have no doubt they were wise, and though I did not relish it. was enough of a Yorkshire woman to fot,A -;1 1a l was buttered.
 With regard to the actual choice of the pen name, one of the stories in Cavalry Life" was told in the first person. and the character was Cornet John Strange Winter. After some consideration I thought I could not do better than credit this imag- mary character with the other stor- ies also.
 George Frost (Mrs. Octavius Ed dison): I write under a mans name because I believe a woman's work is handicapped by the mere fact of her sex The voteless woman wit nesses to the injustice of men, an in justice which is dealt to women by editors and publishers in common with other men. The use of a male pen name gives a writer a better chance of publication and a fair pay ment.
 Youth is On Cause.
 Theo. Gift (Irs. D. H. Bulger): My reason for taking "Theo. Gift" as a pseudonym was simple. When I be- gan to write novels and publish them -thirty-six years ago--I was a young i-1 hot lot crirl neither as hardened to outside opin- ions nor as independent of their el- ders as they are now. If I had at tempted to make a name for myself in the literary world under my own patronymic and had been i'll received, it would have been felt that I had disgraced the family name.
 So l took a pseudonym which. af ter all, was my own already, My name is Dorothy, the Angelicized version of Dorothea or Theodora. which means gift of God" trans lated Dora" into Gift leaving -Theo," Cfrom a sense of noces.y which I am sure you will see was not uncalled for) in the o:iGinal Ia-in, and-viola tout!
 It served me well. It was short a.'d simple, and the public and ny reviewers treated it so l-in.ry, even f.. m it's first using. till i'm sss laid t ol the shelf. that I have grIr-n ic feni Q tenderness for it.
 Curtis Tnrxe jMrs. s. c. R,chmnrL LeO: The pri:.c'ral re4TrI raI ch, SC Curtis Tt,ke" as a 0eI zane vas that dli Iir: want my work % be judged with the leniency frequent ly accorded to women's work twen- ty-one years ago. but that it should be reviewed either favorably or un- favorably on its own merits.
 "Why She Is George"
 George Paston CMiss E. M. Sy- monds): Narly every review of ev- cry novel and every play I have writ ten has begun with some form of this question: Why do all women writers take the name of 'George?' " It would be about as reasonable to ask: Why are all men writers born with the name of Benson?'" As matter of fact, I believe there are fewer women writers with the Pseu- donym of George than there are men writers with the family name of Ben son.
 When I chose the name of George Paston" there was no other female George in the field except George Fleming, who had not come before the public for some time.
 As a Norfolk woman I chose the name of Paston from the little village where the letters come from" But, it may be asked, why does a woman prefer to write under a masculine pseudonym rather than under her own name? The answer is to be found partly in the desire for fair play, which a woman seldOms gets from men, and partly from dread of making a public failure. When I say that a woman seldom gets fair play I don't mean that she is neces- sarily treated more harshly on ac- count of her sex I mean that she is often treated with so-called chi valry-in other words, a contemp tuous indulgence-on account of her sex The notices of novels in the