Quick question:
Have you ever read Samuel Langhorne Clemens’ novels? Or that of Stanley Martin Lieber’s comics?

No? Well, I can almost guarantee you that you have.

What if I told you that the author created Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or the latter created the famous Marvel Series?

Yes, they are the actual names of authors we all know, Mark Twain and Stan Lee. Sure, Mark Twain and Stan Lee are a concise and readily recognizable names when put on a cover or a novel or a comic, but what was their purpose in abandoning their given name, that is their identity, and adopting a pen name? Does this give them a new identity and a relief of their responsibility and reputation they carry with their real name? In the genre of blogging life narratives of Salam Pax or Riverbend, we can see the clear security of identity but at the same time what does this do to their privilege and power?

One clear cut reason for many to adopt pen names is for their security. But furthermore, this security gives them a sense of liberty and concurrently authority to be able to express themselves in ways previously impossible. In the cases of Pax or Riverbend, it is doubtful these authors would be able to criticize the political situation and take the “overlooking” situation as if to emphasize their critical role in having knowledge of the outside world looking in, as well as the actual events taking place in the Middle East in their respective cities. Not only do these pseudonyms gives them a sense of authority, it also makes available to us, the readership, to recognize the underprivileged and oppressiveness they are put under.

A particularly interesting adoption of pseudonyms occurred recently when J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter Series, took the male name of Robert Galbraith to publish her new novel, the The Cuckoo’s Calling. However, as the secret was soon revealed, Rowling was quick to admit the fact that she was trying to situate herself in a fresh setting to challenge her strength as a writer. Although readers were quick to realize the completeness of her new piece and thus question who it actually was that wrote this piece, this highlights the role of pseudonyms in the need to contextualize or rather in this case “un-contextualize” the author from their reputation.

In this clip below, an American violinist, Joshua Bell performs at a metro station several nights after he performed in a concert hall in front of a sold out crowd who paid 100 dollars each. How does the busy crowd react?

Stop and Hear the Music -WashingtonPost

Quite shocking right? Not many acknowledge his performance let alone paid attention to him. This depicts the social instinct in which we are constantly in need and guidance of labeling and associating names with works and achievements. This raises a doubt in to what extent are we blindly trusting the public reputation in our daily lives unconsciously? Are we reading the work of authors because of their status as a reputable author? I believe that by adopting the pseudonyms of interest, one can establish a “brand” in themselves and fully adopt the names to consolidate their readership.