We can see that the exclusion of women from writing goes back as far as the history of writing itself. Women who wanted to enter the literary scene preferred to use male pseudonyms as a solution to this situation.
There are writers who have words and feelings that they want to convey to the world, and who find a solution by hiding their female identities to convey their existence. So why did they want to write their works under a male pseudonym?
The real reason is the desire to be taken seriously in a scene that is thoroughly male-dominated. Because during the period, either the works of women writers were not published or the published works were subjected to intense criticism.
At the same time, since she was a female writer, she was also worried about not being taken seriously by the readers in her publishing life and not being able to make sales.
After James Tiptree Jr., who made a big breakthrough in the 1970s, announced that his real name was “Alice Sheldon” in 1976, there was a decline in book sales.
On the other hand, it is of great importance that not only the author of the book but also the main character is male. Sheldon wanted to become better known in the male-dominated science fiction genre. He proved his success by winning various awards with his science fiction novels and short stories published under the name Tiptree.
Years later, in an interview, she explained the reason for having to use a male pseudonym: “A male name was like a good camouflage for me. Thanks to this camouflage, I was able to avoid being put under the spotlight and move freely just like a man. “I needed this because I’d had too many bad experiences in my life being the ‘first woman’ in a damn profession.”
If it had not entered the literary world as the Brontë Sisters, Wuthering Heights would not be with us.
Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte; The sisters, who use the pseudonyms Currer Bell, Elise Bell and Acton Bell respectively, are among the young women who wrote under male pseudonyms in the Victorian Era.
Charlotte Bronte herself commented on using these names: “We didn’t want to present ourselves as women because we had the impression that female writers were prejudiced against us, and we didn’t think the way we wrote and thought was ‘feminine’ at the time.”
Wuthering Heights, the only novel written by Emily Bronte, is one of the most important works of English literature today. Anne Bell, the youngest of the sisters, is known for her novel Agnes Grey. The sisters also have a poetry book jointly published in 1946 called Poems by Currer, Elise and Acton Bell.
He uses a male pseudonym and describes his male heroes with characteristics that are equated with women.
Mary Ann Evans, who wrote under the pseudonym George Eliot, is one of the most famous English writers of the Victorian Era. She stated that her purpose in writing was to reflect the lives of flesh and blood people who came from the dusty streets and fields.
While she continues her writing work, which is considered to be specific to men, by taking a male name, she attributes characteristics that are considered specific to women to her male heroes, a subject that has sharp lines even today. Evans was writing about it in the 1860s.
The story of Harry Potter is written by a woman, but the publishing house prefers the pseudonym JK so that it is not understood that the author is a woman.
The author, who writes under the pseudonym JK Rowling, is the most current and popular example of female writers who use pseudonyms. Joanne Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, takes the pseudonym JK for this book.
The publishing house thought that male readers might be reluctant to read a female author and chose to write her name as “JK Rowling” to give the impression that the author was male.
Our author shown in the examples of so-called translated novels is Nihal Zeynep Yeğinobalı.
Yeğinobalı, who uses the pseudonym Vincent Ewing, is one of the few female writers in our geography who can be given as an example of female writers using male names. He published his first novel, written by a so-called American writer named Vincent Ewing, under the name Young Girls. This book has gone through new editions over the years.
At that time, it was not welcome for a young woman to write a novel with sexual content or connotations, and since it would not be easy to publish, the book was published as if it were a translation. The novel is a well-known example of pseudo-translation.
In the interview published in the August 1988 issue of Kadinca magazine, Yeğinobalı says; “I was saying to myself that I could write a novel, but they told me, ‘You are still young, you can write it when you grow up.’ Since I earn my living through translations, there was no way I could spare time and engage in such an activity. One day, the publishing house told me that a translation was needed in a hurry. Thereupon, I contacted the publishing house. I told them that I had read a very good serialized American novel in the last magazine and that I could translate that novel. I moved the date back to avoid copyright problems, and they accepted. Thus, I wrote the novel every day, with the discipline as if I were translating. Every evening, I had the part I wrote ready for express. The next day, they accepted. “Every day I had nothing but the last sentence of the day before. I finished it in 1.5 months. That’s how it came to be.”
Edith Maude Eaton is one of the writers who used pseudonyms other than complying with patriarchal standards.
Chinese-British writer Edith Maude Eaton used the pseudonym Sui Sin Far not to comply with patriarchal standards, but to express her concern about racial discrimination against Asians living in North America without self-censorship.
This nickname, chosen by the author from his own language, is the Cantonese name for the narcissus flower popular among the Chinese.
He did not want to share his sexual orientation, he created a new identity.
Another reason why female writers prefer to write under male pseudonyms is their sexual orientation.
British writer Violet Page, who was born in France in 1856, used the pseudonym Vernon Lee and published her novel A Phantom Lover under this name. Vernon Lee was the name Paget chose to create a new identity for himself.
With the Take Your Name Back project, 25 books were republished under the name of “female” authors.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction, one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary awards, took issue with these women using men’s names instead of their own names.
In 2020, it organized a campaign called “Take Back Your Name” and selected 25 books from female writers who wrote under pseudonyms and republished them under their own “female” names.
Male dominance may not be the only reason for using male pseudonyms; There are also cases where writers experience differently how to express themselves.
In conclusion, it is a fact that the literary world was once completely male-dominated, and many female writers had to give up their names in order to appear on this stage.
At the same time, it is also the struggle they have to express only their worldly troubles and feelings, and their love. However, we still cannot say that all women are oppressed under male pseudonyms. Sometimes they may have thought that this was the only way they could express themselves.
Famous writers who took part in the literary scene with their female identities also remained at the forefront with their courage and emotions.
- British novelist Jane Austen, who is well-known throughout the world, is one of the most popular female writers with her simple and direct narrative and her different and ironic perspective on events in her books. She is considered one of the representatives of modern novelism with her strong female narratives in her works. Pride and Prejudice, also known as Pride and Prejudice, is a masterpiece that has become one of the world’s classics.
- British author Agatha Christie is one of the most important names in detective literature and the creator of the detective Hercule Poirot character. He wrote his first detective novel, The Mysterious Incident in Styles, thinking that he could write better detective stories that he read to pass the time while he was in France.
- A Room of One’s Own, one of the important books of the women’s movement, was perhaps Virginia Woolf’s most easily read book. Because the subject was very concrete: Women and Literature. There is an ‘eternal’ and ‘overwhelming’ question that men tirelessly repeat to women: “You claim that you have the ability to think as much as we do. If so, why couldn’t you produce a genius like Shakespeare?
- Mary Shelley published her most famous novel, Frankenstein, in 1818. Besides Frankenstein, Shelley wrote many other books, including Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), his autobiography Lodore (1835), and the posthumously published Mathilde.
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