Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-21
AFTER THE GHOST WRITERS
BIZ FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.

A flank attack on the practice Of
ghost writing has been launched from
that citadel of learning, Paris. Ghost
writing is the anonymous authorship OF
books and articles which, when pub
lished, are signed by persons distin-
Ruished for some reason or another, but
who have not so much as read what
they are supposed to have written.
Ghost writing is more prevalent IN
America than anywhere else and 1t Is
here that the effect Of such an attack
will be felt most keenly.
The attack takes the form OF the
grouping together of number OF writ
srs living in Paris, most of them French
men, but some American, for the pur-
pose of publishing works anonymously.
These writers are, for the most part.
well known to the world Of letters. They
are taking the position that the best way
to get rid of the ghost writer Is to pub
lish works which glorify no name what
ever, whether 1t be that of q profess
sional writer or of celebrity who has
his material written for him.
The central idea is that If works are
published absolutely anonymously they
viii stand or fall on their merits.
Ghost writing is not alone attacked.
The idea goes farther. It is felt by many
earnest writer's that good many per-
sons who have written one or two good
works and gained a reputation, "a
name" as it Is called, proceed to coast
upon that reputation, let down, relax
effort, and continue to produce inferior
works which will sell because the au-
thor Is famous for earlier and better
writing. Publishers, 1t Is asserted, are
aware that the reading public will buy
anything by So-snd-so.'' Magazine pub
fishers know that to print on their COW
ers the name of popular writer insures
purchase of copies and increases circu-
lation and thereby enables them to raise
rates charged for advertising space.
Indeed, there are known to be cases
where writer's who have arrived and
acquired a following do not even make
the effort to produce fresh work. Al
most every writer Of merit In these times
has striven sometimes for years before
selling anything and achieving publica-
ton and popularity. It is an ingrained
habit OF writer's to hoard their rejected
manuscripts as a rliser boards gold, as
crow boards anything It can find and
carry OF, and the late Queen Victoria
boarded empty boxes, wrapping paper
and pieces of string. These are hope
fully stored away In desk drawers or an
OLD trunk. When the name has been
made, the old, rejected things are dug
up and then sold. The practice Is
known as living out Of the trunk.
The Partisan group has organized q
small publishing house and shortly, It Is
reported, will begin issuing books bear
ing only the baf1ing Identification,
Anonymous" Members Of the group
are foregoing considerable sums which
their mere name would command did
they send their manuscripts to regular
publishers and permit them to be is
sued In the usual way, fully identified
with list OF previous works and publish
ers blurb.
Famous PseudOnyms.
Relatively few works of today are
published anonymously, although for
merly the method was widely EMPLOYED
The pseudonym Is much used, but that
! Is quite different. Take o. Henry, for
example, one of the greatest Of short
story writer's Of recent years. That
pseudonym became so generally known
\ that most readers assumed o. Henry
was the real name Of the writer; In fact,
1t probably would be safe to say that
half Of the readers Of his stories still
think so. The name Of Sidney Porter
means nothing to them, where 0. Henry
means a good deal.
BY far the most outstanding case in
American letters is furnished by Marx
Twain. More people know that Mark
Twain Is a pseudonym than know o.
Henry Is; nevertheless, Mark Twain
rings far more Familiarity in the ears
| than Samuel Langhorne Clemens
SO In the case of pSeudonyms there
is the same personal glorification afr
taching to a name as when an actual
cognomen is affixed to a book. The
same psychology works. The public
would buy a book by Mark Twain be-
cause 1t bore that signature, assuming
that 1t must be good work
The utter lack of identification in
Anonymous, however, is different mat
ter. 1t Is, in q sense, a slap in the
face to the reader. There isn't clue.