The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-07
NAMES OF MEN
 USED BY WOMEN Interesting Reasons Given By Novelists MASCULINE PSEUD0NYM Mrs. Arthur Stewards Publisher Re- fused to Bring Out First Book Un- der Woman's Name-Adopted
 
MASCULINE PSEUD0NYM
the New York Press.

From the New York Press.
 | Some interesting reasons why women | novelists choose to write under masculine pseudonyms are given by a number of famous English writers as follows: Charles Marlowe (N1iss Harriet Jay)- I write plays under the name of "Charles
 Marlowe" because, being a novelist as
 well as dramatist, I think it better to
 keep the one quite distinct from the other.
 My reason for choosing this particular
 name is simple. When the idea of using
 a dramatic nom de plume first occurred to me- I happened to be writing comedy which was afterward produced at the
 vaudeville theatre under the title of
 Fascination" The leading part in this play-that of a girl who irnpersonates
 boy-I created myself, and made in it
 great success. The name of the girl was Lady Madge Hazelton," that of the boy
 Charles Marlowe." I have used the name ever since
 John. Strange Winter CMrs Arthur Stan. nard)-On the whole, I think it is to
 woman's disadvantage to write as man,
 as it may convey an idea to some people that she is not good enough to stand on her own personality
 The bitter truth was that my first pub
 fishers refused to bring out Cavalry Life' under feminine pseudonym. l have no doubt they were wise, and, though did not relish it, was enough of a Yorkshire woman to recognize on which side my bread 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 could not do better than credit
 this imaginary character with the other
 stories also.
 George Frost (Ndrs. Octavius Eddson)-
 l write under mans name because I
 believe a woman's work is handicapped
 by the mere fact of her sex. The vote
 less woman witnesses to the injustice of
 men, an injustice 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 pulp lication, and fair payment. Theo. Gift (Mrs. D. H. Bulger)-My
 reasons for taking 'Theo Gift as
 pseudonym were simple. When l began to
 write novels and publish them--36 years ago-I was young girl and at that date girls were neither hardened to outside opinions nor as independent of their elders, as they are now. If I had at tempted to make name for myself in the literary world under my own patronymic and had been ill received, it would have been felt that 1 had disgraced the family name.
 Sc l took a pseudonym which, after all, was my own already. My name is Dor othy, the Anglecised version of Dorothea or Theodora, which means Gift of God" l translated Dora" into Gift" leaving
 'Theo" Qrom a sense of modesty which
 l am sure you will feel was not uncalled
 for) in the original Latin, and-vola tout! It served me we'll It was short and simple, and the public and my reviewers treated it so kindly even from it's first using, till illness laid it on the shelf, that l have grown to feel a tenderness for it. Curtis Yorke (Afrs. S. c. Richmond Lee)
 The principal reasop that I chose Curtis Yorke' as pen name was that l did not
 want my work to be judged with the leniency frequently accorded to women s
 work 21 years ago, but that it should oe reviewed eitEer fav5rably or unfayorably on its own merits.
 George PastoH (Miss E. M Symonds) = Nearly every review of every novel and every play have written has begun with
 some form of this questions: Why do all women writers take the name of | able to ask: Why are all. men writers born with the name of 'Benson?" As a matter of fact, l believe there are fewer women writers with the pseudonym Of | George than there are men writers with | the family name of Benson.
 | When l chose the name of George l Paston' there was no other female
 George in the field except George Flem- 1 ing, who had not come before the public 1 for some time.
 l 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 masculine pseudonym rather than i under her own name? The answer is to | be found, partly in the desire for fair 1 play, which a woman seldom gets from men, and partly from dread of making a | public failure. When I say that woman i seldom gets fair play I don't mean that | she is necessarily treated more harshly | on account of her sex; I mean that she is often treated with so-called chivalry-
 in other words, a contemptuous indul- l gence-on account of her sex. The notices | of novels in the critical and monthly ! reviews frequently begin with some re- l mark as: This work is written by a
 lady; consequently not the object of se- l were criticisrh.''