Publishing works either anonymously or under a pseudonym has been a tradition in the Gothic literary genre since its very creation. Such deception might be done for a variety of reasons. Early works of Gothic literature often tried to pass themselves off as something older—long-buried ancient manuscripts newly discovered and translated by an enterprising soul—to both increase their mystique and shield the author’s reputation from critiques of this untested new style. As Gothic novels became increasingly popular with female authors, many of them adopted male pen names or left their name off entirely to avoid the stigma of their gender. Today, pseudonyms give authors the opportunity to depart from their usual genres, to step away from their existing fame, or simply to add to the fun.
Horace Walpole kicked off the trend when he published the very first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, under a fake name in 1764. In fact, he created a rather elaborate backstory for the novel, which he detailed in the introduction. The first edition of The Castle of Otranto listed its author as William Marshall and claimed that he had translated the text from a 16th-century Italian manuscript written by a monk named Onuphrio Muralto, who in turn may have gotten the story from an earlier source going back to the Crusades. While some of Walpole’s early readers bought into this ruse, others were quick to point out anachronisms in the text and voice their doubts that it was a genuinely medieval manuscript. With the printing of the second edition, Walpole came clean and appended his own name to the title page, adding as well a preface that explains some of his motivations for not doing so in the first edition. Critics in England were shocked that someone from their own enlightened era (especially such a well-regarded politician and society man as Horace Walpole) could have written such a superstitious, fantastical story. Some withdrew earlier praise, saying that literary foibles that could have been excused in writers from a less advanced era were not to be tolerated in modern authors. Despite this push-back, The Castle of Otranto remained popular and cemented Walpole’s fame.
William Beckford—or rather, his translator Samuel Henley—pulled a similar stunt with the Gothic novel Vathek. Beckford initially composed the novel in French but sent it to Henley to be translated into English. Henley published the English edition anonymously in 1786 as An Arabian Tale, From an Unpublished Manuscript. Like The Castle of Otranto, this text presented itself as having mysterious ancient sources, in this case claiming to have been translated from Arabic. With this particular ruse, the novel was able to ride on the coattails of the popular collection Arabian Nights, which had been translated into English in 1706 and captured the imagination of Europeans for the rest of the century. As I’ve written about before, this appropriation of Eastern cultures in Vathek established the trend of Orientalism in Gothic literature.
Perhaps one of the most famous Gothic novels ever written, Frankenstein, was also published anonymously. Shelley’s intention, however, was not to pass the story off as an ancient tale. The novel was initially published in 1818 with a preface recognizably written by Percy Shelley and a dedication to William Godwin (Mary’s father). These details led many to assume that it was actually Percy Shelley who had written the story. When the second edition named Mary Shelley as the author, many were surprised that such a young, relatively unknown woman could have written the story. In fact, Mary Shelley’s authorship is still contested to this day as critics debate how much of an influence Percy had over the novel.
While Frankenstein‘s attribution to her husband was surely a nuisance to Mary Shelley, other female authors chose to intentionally publish their works under male names. All three Brontë sisters used pseudonyms to hide their gender and true identities. In 1847, Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the name Currer Bell, and later that year Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights as Ellis Bell and Anne published Agnes Grey as Acton Bell. Most critics at the time bought the fiction, and the true identities of the Brontës were not revealed until after the deaths of Emily and Anne. A Victorian author of supernatural fiction, Violet Page, also used a male pseudonym for her prolific works, and is still best known by that name—Vernon Lee.
Pen names can be important for avoiding fame or bias, but sometimes they’re just fun. Twentieth-century American illustrator Edward Gorey was known for using a whole slew of pseudonyms that were some sort of play on his real name. Two of his most famous were Eduard Blutig (which, in German, means “bloody” or “gory.” See what he did there?) and Ogdred Weary, an anagram of the letters in his name. In more recent years, we’ve seen authors like Anne Rice and J. K. Rowling use pen names when switching genres, and occasionally an author like Lemony Snicket (real name Daniel Handler) who uses a fake name to present himself as a character within his story.
What other books have you read that were published under a pen name? Have you ever used a pen name yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments!