Authors and Anonymity

[JRO]

Elena Ferrante, author of the incredible Neopolitan Quartet series, whose identity has remained a respected mystery until this week, was unveiled to be the translator Anita Raja. The revelation has given rise to debates regarding an author's right to remain anonymous, separate from their work and potential fame, versus the idea that their biographies are essential to dissecting and understanding their work. Even in the category of fiction, is the concept of 'death of the author' no longer acceptable in a time where society craves authenticity and transparency in almost all things these days?

[Sarah_Khan]

Personally I think if an author wants to remain anonymous, then we should respect their right to do so. I also don't think it's necessary to know about an author's life in order to truly appreciate their work.
I get why society deems transparency an important value but I also feel like 100% transparency isn't necessary in everything. I actually like when there's a bit of mystery regarding the author.

[DATo]

What if author's names suddenly disappeared from all books along with our memories of the people associated with those names ... would it matter? If we read a book solely for its contents it shouldn't.

[DB44]

A very interesting and relevant topic. Personally, I am a great believer in the concept that a successful work should stand alone. Yes, there are many who love dissecting an authors work by reference to all sorts of things about the author. The vast majority of authors seem to be okay with this. But if an Author wants anonymity then there is no public right to such information. I think in publishing just about any book the author is making public something of themselves. I'm sure some authors would not publish their works at all if they could not hide behind the veil of anonymity. Others would temper their works in defence of their reputations and privacy.

Until recently judging an author's work by reference to their life was a relatively harmless practice. Sadly this is no longer the case. Identity politics has intruded into the world of fiction. So we see the ridiculous idea of cultural appropriation as applied to fiction. The idea that a group has some form of proprietorship over its identity, so no one outside that group is entitled to write about it. Thus we have a person who I will not name who walked out of Lionel Shriver's keynote address at the Brisbane Writer's Festival for this very reason and then very publicly blogged about it. We also see various posts around the net on what writer's should not write about or how they should write about particular groups. It reminds me of Alice Sheldon writing as James Tiptree Jr. Much time was wasted in argument over whether her stories were in fact written by a man or a woman. It is fair to say that no definitive conclusion was reached until the time her identity was exposed. But why did it matter? Man or woman, she wrote some of the greatest SyFy short stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Also, we have the tales of the same works being submitted under one name and rejected, only to be submitted under another and accepted or even acclaimed. Sometimes the advantage is to be found in a name suggesting a minority group or a female, some in a name suggesting male or mainstream. This is a sad indictment on those to whom the works are submitted. Ironically, anonymous submissions may avoid these problems, although it is possible they may not be allowed or attract their own form of discrimination.

So my view is judge a work on its merits. It is simply not relevant whether the author is male or female, or a member or not of a particular group. In my view there is no such thing as "cultural appropriation" in this sense. But in the current climate I can well see that more authors may wish to avail themselves of the cloak of anonymity, if only to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the thought police.

[BelleReadsNietzsche]

I agree with everyone above. I think it's sad that authors have such a difficult time remaining anonymous. Leave them alone and let them write!

[flaming_quills]

I think an author should remain anonymous if they wish to do so and nothing and no one should breach that right. However, I do disagree with the statement that one needs to know an author's life to fully appreciate their work. There are many authors whose lives I do not know but whose work I highly appreciate.

[Dragonsend]

I can understand a writer wanting to be anonymous, eventually you would hope they would come out of the closet, especially if they are great writers.

[Amanda Deck]

It seems to me that it's the author's business to decide, though I love to know. I've long been fascinated in the differences in character attitudes and behaviors in books according to whether the author is male or female. It's also very interesting to know where the author comes from and what their experiences are that may have formed, or at least contributed to, their stories.

[Nisha Ward]

I do agree that an author's private life is their own and that they should not be forced out into the public if they don't want to be, but I disagree that identity politics are intruding into fiction. Context is key to how we write about our experiences and authenticity should absolutely be a concern if you're writing about a group that isn't your own.

Does that mean we need to examine every aspect of an author's life if they're a white man writing about, say, a black man's experiences in London for example? No, but we should be aware of how that affects the work that is produced as no writing is done in a vacuum.

Tl;dr Identity politics are a part of fiction whether we agree with them or not, but we don't need to know an author's private life if they want it to remain private.

[Letora]

Plenty of authors use pen names and also stay anonymous. I don't think you have to know who the author is to enjoy their work. I fall in love with the words on the page.

[Artizi]

I feel is entirely an author's decision to make. No one can be forced into revealing their identity while offering art to the world. If they want to or decide not to, it's entirely up to them!

[NetMassimo]

Writers might have a number of reasons to stay anonymous. Alice Sheldon / James Tiptree Jr. was mentioned but until a few decades ago there were several women writing science fiction using male pen names because it was considered a genre written by men for men. Today in this genre there's Greg Egan staying anonymous for unknown reasons, I still read his (her?) works for their quality.

[DD129]

I also agree that authors have the right to stay anonymous. An author's private life is no one's business, no matter how big of a fan someone is. They have their reasons for keeping their identity secret, and fans should respect that. Personally, I think an author's writing speaks more about them than any background information.

[NetMassimo]

We got used to writers being public figures, even more with social networks, but there are still writers who want to keep a strict separation between their private life and their work.

[LinaMueller]

As a First Amendment fundamentalist, I fully support the idea of unlimited free expression and the right to remain anonymous.