
‘George Eliot’ joins 24 female authors making debuts under their real names - sohkamyung
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/12/george-eliot-joins-24-female-authors-making-debuts-under-their-real-names
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bloak
To me it seems disrespectful to publish someone's book under a different name
from the one they chose to publish it under.

Also, the name "George Eliot" having been chosen by the writer herself rather
than by her parents doesn't make that name any less "real".

Obviously it's a bit sad that contemporary circumstances encouraged her to
choose a masculine pen name, but it seems very likely from her biography that
she would in any case have used some kind of a pen name for her novels in
order to separate the novels from her other work. So perhaps someone should
republish her novels under the name Georgette Eliot. That would make about as
much sense as what they've done here.

It's also a bit sad that most English names are gendered. But we can't easily
fix that with a pull request, can we?

~~~
2038AD
> To me it seems disrespectful to publish someone's book under a different
> name from the one they chose to publish it under.

It's an interesting situation because it's obviously meant to honour the
authors but in doing so it's speaking for them. It relies on the idea that
these authors were women who took pseudonyms because of the society they were
in rather than fully by choice.

The description of George Sand stood out to me

> Amantine Aurore Dupin, the 19th-century author better known as George Sand,
> who famously scandalised society by wearing male clothing and smoking cigars
> in public.

Wouldn't using a masculine name and wearing masculine clothing be grounds to
consider her in fact a him, a transgender man? Today, Marsha P. Johnson is
considered to be a trans woman rather than a gay man yet she never used the
term. Admittedly, Johnson also used feminine pronouns but so have many other
gay men.

It reminds me of Foone's _Don’t Deadname the Dead_
[https://foone.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/dont-deadname-the-
dea...](https://foone.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/dont-deadname-the-dead/)

~~~
throwaway_pdp09
> ... but so have many other gay men [used feminine pronouns]

I have never met a gay guy who preferred to be called 'she'.

> Wouldn't using a masculine name and wearing masculine clothing be grounds to
> consider her in fact a him, a transgender man?

This is all moot. The only one who is to decide is the person themselves.
Trying to work out the correct backpatched term is a waste of time as it's
trying to read a dead person's mind.

~~~
carlinmack
your experience is not universal :)

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bookofjoe
>Alice Bradley Sheldon (August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American
science fiction author better known as James Tiptree Jr., a pen name she used
from 1967 to her death. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James
Tiptree Jr. was a woman.

Awards and Honors:

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Tiptree in 2012. She also won
several annual awards for particular works of fiction (typically the preceding
calendar year's best):

• Hugo Awards: 1974 novella, "The Girl Who Was Plugged In"; 1977 novella,
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"

• Nebula Awards: 1973 short story, "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death"; 1976
novella, "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"; 1977 novelette, "The Screwfly
Solution" (published as by Raccoona Sheldon)

• World Fantasy Award: 1987 collection, Tales of the Quintana Roo

• Locus Award: 1984 short story, "Beyond the Dead Reef"; 1986 novella, "The
Only Neat Thing to Do"

• Science Fiction Chronicle Award: 1986 novella, "The Only Neat Thing to Do"

•Jupiter Award: 1977 novella, "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree_Jr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree_Jr).

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tokai
This seems like a commercial for a vanity reprinting of public domain works.
Karen Blixen would have been so obvious to include, but her works are still
covered by copyright, so that would have taken some actual effort to get
published. They have chosen some weird boring titles. Middlemarch is the only
real interesting book in the collection.

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cafard
To quote Jacques Barzun: "George Eliot is the great author. Mary Anne Evans is
the pedant's girlfriend."

Now will we address such male authors as Stendhal, Mark Twain, Saki, Flann
O'Brien/Myles na gCopaleen, Anthony Burgess, and Ross Macdonald, and think we
have done great things?

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atlgator
I still prefer Mark Twain over Samuel Clemens.

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bryanrasmussen
I suppose, thinking about it, that death imparts all the advantages a nom de
plume secures without the disagreeableness of having to hide who you are. So
in that sense it is a good thing.

~~~
wmeredith
If the pen name’s purpose was to keep bigotry against women from coloring how
your work is received, it certainly does not.

~~~
Swenrekcah
True, but certainly that should not be a problem for the vast majority of
readers today.

So this might alienate a very small percentage of potential readers, but
instead enlighten every possible reader to the fact that the author was a
woman.

~~~
wongarsu
Which could as well be done by writing the name as "Ms George Elliot" or by
putting a picture of the author next to the name.

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captn3m0
Torrent for the collection:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:7cc1738ed1a51318d07d8b5a72e463306fe5d2af&dn=reclaim-her-
name&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337%2Fannounce

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SideburnsOfDoom
I would personally hope for some James Tiptree Jr.

But that might not be a common choice.

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fmdud
filing this one under "who cares"

