pseudonymity

This page considers pseudonymity, online and offline.

It covers -

• introduction
• precursors
• mechanisms
• frameworks
• offline

It complements discussion elsewhere on this site regarding identity and identity crime, forgery, privacy and secrecy.

John Mullan's Anonymity (London: Faber 2008) notes the tradition of pseudonyms in high and low literature, embraced by figures such as Alfred Deakin, Eric Blair, Charles Dodgson, Anthony Burgess, Doris Lessing, Dominique Aury (aka Pauline Réage of the Histoire d'O), Doris Lessing (as Jane Somers) and Richard Seaver (aka Sabine D'Estree). Gothic horror star Anne Rice wrote sadomasochistic erotica as A N Roquelaure. Fernando Pessoa wrote as Bernardo Soares, Scottish engineer Alexander Search, Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and bisexual naval engineer Álvaro de Camp. US crime writer Lawrence Block was a porn scribe in the guise of Jill Emerson.

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