Before answer the question have a look at the entry posted in March of this year
Celebrities Pen names
Alberto Pinchele
Daniel Defoe
WHAT’S IN A NAME
Pen Names
Source: Speak Up
Language level: Lower intermediate
Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe
Standard: British accent
Many of the most famous writers in history have used pen names. Why?
SIMPLICITY AND STYLE
Eric Blair thought George Orwell was “a good round English name.” Daniel Foe, author of Robson Crusoe, decided Defoe sounded more aristocratic. Vampire novelist, Anne Rice, changed her name early in life: her mother bizarrely named her after her father, Howard O’Brien. The famous Japanese haiku poet tried 15 pen names before settling on Basho, which means banana plant. Some choose simplicity. Georges Remi reversed his initials (French pronunciation) to become Hergé, author of Tintin. Joseph Conrad sounds reassuringly English, compared to Jozef Konrad Korzeniowki. Wilhelm Albert Vlademir Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky is less memorable than Guillaume Apollinaire, Ettore Schmitz became Italo Svevo because he “felt sorry for the one little vowel surrounded by all those fierce consonants;” it also sounds less foreign.
Not only are these pen names clear and memorable, they also look great on book covers. (Like pen names, authors often use their initials – from T.S. Eliot and D.H. Lawrence to J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling – to create a memorable brand). Some pen names are a kind of homage. Neftali Bosoalto put together Paul Verlaine and Czech writer Jan Neruda to become Nobel poet Pablo Neruda. Samuel Langhorne Clemens chose Mark Twain because it reminded him of his beloved Mississippi River.
GENRE AND GENDER
Writers may use pseudonyms for different for different genres. Math professor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson invented the playful name Lewis Carroll for Children’s books such as Alice in Wonderland. (Lewis is the French versionof Lutwidge; Caroll come from the Latin for Charles, Carolus.)
Pen names also disguise who you are for example, a woman. Mary Ann Evans did not want readers to assume her novels were romances, so she wrote as George Eliot. Amantine Aurore Dupin became George Sand, while the Brontë sisters (Anne, Charlotte and Emily) initially published as Actor Bell, Currer Bell and Ellis Bell.
CONCEALMENT AND DISGUISE
There are other reasons to hide one’s identity. Isak Dinesen was the pen name used for Out of Africa, the disguised autobiography of Baroness Karen Blixen. Because Irish civil servants were not allowed to publish books, Brian O’Nolan wrote novels as Flann O’Brien and articles as Myles na gCopalleen. Respected critic Anne Desclos wrote erotic best-seller, the Story of 0, as Pauline Réage. Stephen King published four novels under the name Richard Bachman to find out whether people bought his books for his name, rather than his writing. Crime queen Agatha Christie used the pen name Mary Westmacott to write romances, exploring her own psychology n a way the Poirot and Miss Marpie novels could not.
Molliére hid his name (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) because the theater was shameful. Most touching, when he was just 16, future American politician Benjamin Franklin invented middle-aged widow Silence Dogood to get his satirical letters published in the newspaper printed by his brother.
Would you write books under your own name? Use your initials? Or would you prefer a pen name, to hide your identify or to be more memorable?
PEN NAME | REAL NAME |
Alberto Moravia | Alberto Pinocherle |
Anne Rice | Howard Allen O’Brien |
Anthony Burgess | John Burgess Wilson |
Boz | Charles Dickens |
Daniel Defoe | Daniel Foe |
Eltery Queen | Freeric Dannay and Manfred B. Lee |
Flann O’Brien | Brian O’Nolan |
George Elliot | Mary Ann Evans |
George Orwell | Eric Arthur Blair |
George Sand | Amandine Dupin |
Guillaume Apokinaire | Vilhelm Albert Vladimir Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky |
Hergé | Georges Remi |
Karen Blixen | Isak Dinosen |
Italo Stevo | Ettore Schmitz |
John Le Careré | David John Moore Cornwell |
Joseph Conrad | Józel Teodor |
Lemony Snicket | Daniel Handler |
Lewi Carroll | Charles Lutwidge Dodgson |
Mark Twain | Samuel Langhorne Clemens |
Molière | Jean-Baptiste Poquelin |
Pablo Neruda | Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto |
Richard Bachman | Stephen King |
Pauline Réage | Anne Desclos |
Saki | Hector Hugo Munro |
Stendhal | Marie-Henri Beyle |
Voltaire | François-Marie Arguet |
PEN NAMES (B1) – Speak Up – Issue 280
GETTING STARTED.
TASK 1. Speaking. With your partner(s) discuss these questions.
a) Do you like your name? Why (not)?
b) What’s your favourite name for a woman? Why?
c) What’s your favourite name for a man? Why?
d) Would you ever consider changing your name? Why (not)?
e) What are possible reasons why some people change their name?
LISTENING
TASK 2. Prediction. You are going to listen to a recording about famous writers who changed their names. Before you listen, discuss this question with your partner, and make some notes. If you don’t know/aren’t sure, guess!
What are possible reasons why famous writers changed their names? Make a list. When you have finished, compare your list with other students in the class.
TASK 3. Listening for Specific Information. Listen to all of the recording, without reading. How many of your ideas were mentioned?
Check your answers before completing the remaining TASKS.
READING
TASK 4. Prediction #2. Before you read all of the article, work with your partner and match the famous writer with the reason for changing their name. If you don’t know, guess!
1. Agatha Christie | a) Name looks good on a book cover |
2. Daniel Defoe | b) Pen name is more memorable than original name |
3. George Eliot | c) Pen name sounds more aristocratic than original name |
4. Guillaume Apollinaire | d) Simplicity |
5. Hergé | e) To find out if people bought his books because of his name only |
6. Isak Dinesen | f) To hide her gender |
7. J.R.R. Tolkien | g) To hide identity |
8. Pablo Neruda | h) To pay homage to other writers |
9. Stephen King | i) To write a different kind of book |
TASK 5: Reading for Specific Information: Read all of the text as quickly as you can and check your answers to TASK 4.
P.E.T. EXAM PRACTICE
(Paper 1: Reading and Writing Paper, WRITING PART 1)
TASK 6. Here are some sentences related to the topic of the article you have read.
For each question, complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first.
Use no more than three words
1) | I like Hergé’s real name better than his pen name |
I prefer Hergé’s real name _________ his pen name | |
2) | You won’t know Stephen King’s pen name if you don’t read this article. |
You won’t know Stephen King’s pen name _________ read this article. | |
3) | George Orwell wrote such good books, that I’ve read them all. |
George Orwell wrote _____________well, that I’ve read all his books | |
4) | I went so see the Harry Potter films because I loved the books by J..K. Rowling |
I loved the books by J.K. Rowling ______________ I went to see the Harry Potter films. | |
5) | It was the first time I had read a poem by T.S. Eliot. |
I _________ a poem by T.S. Eliot before. |
SPEAKING
TASK 7 . Discuss these questions with your partners
- Which of the reasons given for changing names do you find strange? Why?
- Do you think Stephen King’s books sell because of his name or his writing? Why?
- How important do you think the writer’s name is when you want to choose a book? Why?
- Do you prefer reading books or going to see the same story at the cinema? Why?
- Have you ever bought a book by an author you know and found you didn’t like the book? Why?
