Nom de Plume

The most compelling poets and writers are, by vocation, attuned to the nuances of consciousness, acutely aware of the contradictory, incongruous nature of the self. Such sensitivity allows them to be better writers--to bring to life fascinating characters, poetic speakers, and richly layered narratives. It also affords writers a particular understanding (or at least, recognition) of their own multifarious condition(s). Unable to reconcile these contradictory forces, yet unwilling to ignore them, writers sometimes struggle with their own identity. Finding it difficult and constricting to create under their one, given name--even feeling, at times, that they are lying by doing so--writers seek out alternatives. Pseudonymous authorship has a long and complex history in great literature from around the world. Though the identities of some authors become irrevocably connected to, and in some cases interchangeable with, their pseudonyms-as Mark Twain for Samuel Langhorne Clemens-others continue to languish in anonymity, which is often exactly as the author would have it. In NOM DE PLUME, Carmela Ciuraru delves into the relationship between twenty authors and their aliases, teasing out the reasoning behind these sublimations of self-as a form of protection, or modesty, or in order to explore other literary (or even psychological) identities. Here, book lovers will find fresh and nuanced portraits of the literary lives of writers including Daniel Defoe, Jane Austen, Fernando Pessoa, Sylvia Plath, and the Brontë sisters. This illuminating and enchanting book speaks to the desire in every reader-and every writer-to escape the self and see the world through someone elses eyes.