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Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms - Hardcover

 
9780061735264: Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms
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Part detective story, part exposé and part literary history, this fascinating exploration reveals writers throughout history who hoarded secret identities-- sometimes playfully, and sometimes with tragic consequences--including Mark Twain, George Eliot and Lewis Carroll. 20,000 first printing.

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Review:
"Engaging without being breezy, informative without being pedantic, these essays offer insightful, fascinating literary portraits without the solemness and heft of so many literary biographies. Ciuraru gets to the essence of their lives efficiently and evocatively, which makes for pleasant and piquant summer literary non-fiction."--The Reading Ape Blog

"Fascinating, lively, and fun - you can't do much better than to read about George Sand, born Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, who adopted a swaggering male persona to go along with the name."--Boston Globe

"Ciuraru's treatments of her subjects sparkle with rich, well-arranged detail and the sly wit of literary hindsight. With a central focus that remains urgent and appealing for 21st century readers even as it dissects the personal lives of authors long past, Nom de Plume is surely an important book."--Chelsea Now Magazine

."..'Nom de Plume' is part detective story, part expos?, part literary history, and an absorbing psychological meditation on identity and creativity. It's a delightful book."--Huntington News

"What to make of the paradox that some of the boldest writers have hidden behind pen names? Carmela Ciuraru has performed a valuable service in examining the phenomenon through her charming, sprightly, and illuminating biographical essays."--Phillip Lopate

"Our curator is always having fun in 'Nom De Plume, ' and, as a result, so are we."--Jewish Daily Forward

"Ciuraru builds each history as its own personal story, then builds the literary charm and genius behind the pathos, ... a tale of literary genius all its own."--Los Angeles Times

"With description that captures the imagination, Nom de Plume is what nonfiction should be - accessible, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining."--Christian Science Monitor

."..Ciuraru, a freelance literary journalist, writes well and has a fully functioning sense of humor, so "Nom de Plume" is a pleasure to read..."--Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

"Stories of self-invention are always interesting to read about, especially in Carmela Ciuraru's Nom de Plume. Ciuraru's book presents a persuasive argument that the generative powers of the pseudonym should persist."--The Daily
From the Back Cover:

What's in a name?

In our "look at me" era, everyone's a brand. Privacy now seems a quaint relic, and self-effacement is a thing of the past. Yet, as Nom de Plume reminds us, this was not always the case. Exploring the fascinating stories of more than a dozen authorial impostors across several centuries and cultures, Carmela Ciuraru plumbs the creative process and the darker, often crippling aspects of fame.

Biographies have chronicled the lives of pseudonymous authors such as Mark Twain, Isak Dinesen, and George Eliot, but never before have the stories behind many noms de plume been collected into a single volume. These are narratives of secrecy, obsession, modesty, scandal, defiance, and shame: Only through the protective guise of Lewis Carroll could a shy, half-deaf Victorian mathematician at Oxford feel free to let his imagination run wild. The "three weird sisters" (as they were called by the poet Ted Hughes) from Yorkshire—the Brontes—produced instant bestsellers that transformed them into literary icons, yet they wrote under the cloak of male authorship. Bored by her aristocratic milieu, a cigar-smoking, cross-dressing baroness rejected the rules of propriety by having sexual liaisons with men and women alike, publishing novels and plays under the name George Sand.

Grounded by research yet highly accessible and engaging, these provocative, astonishing stories reveal the complex motives of writers who harbored secret identities—sometimes playfully, sometimes with terrible anguish and tragic consequences. A wide-ranging examination of pseudonyms both familiar and obscure, Nom de Plume is part detective story, part exposé, part literary history, and an absorbing psychological meditation on identity and creativity.

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  • PublisherHarperCollins
  • Publication date2011
  • ISBN 10 0061735264
  • ISBN 13 9780061735264
  • BindingHardcover
  • Number of pages288
  • Rating

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9780061735271: Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms

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  • 9781582346212: The Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of the Pseudonym

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