Pseudonyms

 

Pseudonyms are a very interesting concept to me. The art of changing your name, which ultimately changes who you are, has a certain appeal that one cannot fully describe. I mean who hasn’t changed their name when their out and creepy guys hit on you? I know that my name always changes when I go out, partly to assume a different persona for the night and partly because, well, its just fun. The excitement of becoming someone different and the thrill that no one knows your real name proves to make an interesting night. Authors however, most likely have a different thought process when it comes to choosing to use a pseudonym, or a pen name. As we presented today for the class, there are many contemporary and historically famous authors who took on a pen name when they published their own works. Voltaire is known to be one of the earliest authors who took on a pseudonym and heavily influenced the idea in future writers. As we have gone over in class, many many times, Mark Twain is also another very famous author who uses a pseudonym while publishing works. Even though the reasoning behind Samuel Langhorne Clemens using a Pseudonym is unclear, it is very obvious that he uses a nautical term that translates to “safe to navigate”. Many authors though used Pseudonyms in a way to have more of an effect on their readers, which can lead to the pseudonym-effect. The Pseudonym-effect is the combination of mystery, desire, and authorial representation formed in the public mind once the use of a pseudonym has been revealed. In all honesty, I would choose a pseudonym purely to mess with people’s heads. TO be able to remain unknown and hear how readers react to your works while still remaining anonymous. Stephen King once attempted this, but the news that he was using a pseudonym got out before he could gather any information from his readers. Overall, pseudonyms are a great way to keep authors identity anonymous while marketing their pieces of writings being published. Many women writers would use male names as a pen name and others would use pseudonyms when they decided to switch back and forth between genres. Pseudonyms cerate mystery and desire, as the pseudonym-effect states, and creates an illusion between the author and the readers.

Huck Finn, Perfectly Fine

As mentioned (or rather hotly debated) in class, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn seems to be either loved or hated by students. Personally, I had never read it in high school, a fact that most of my friends seemed appalled about. So when given the opportunity to read it for 372, I was excited and had high expectations. Unfortunately, the novel did not live up to those expectations.

First off, I could not move past the dialect. I never like it when authors write the way the person speaks; it makes me focus too hard on trying to decipher what the character is saying rather than what it actually means. I end up having to reread it a few times and end up getting frustrated with it. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starts out with that Huck's dialect, so I became apprehensive right away, and it did not improve.

Second, the racism aspect affected me. I understand that Twain was trying to convey the feeling of the time period which he did accurately, but it was a bit too much for me, and the nonchalant way many characters talked and acted was degrading and bugged me. The characters, especially Pap Finn were too over the top and almost not believable, and at times I just wanted to slap them, although that obviously not happen.

Most importantly though, I honestly just was not that intrigued by the story itself. Like someone mentioned in class, it was "perfectly fine," which may be a big reason why I was so disappointed by it. I had high expectations because it is such a well-known and widely taught book, that I was underwhelmed. I am glad that I have read it now though, so I can say that I have, but I would not choose to read it again. I agree that it has aspects which could be discussed at length, but I am just fine with only talking about the novel for a week. There are so many books I have read in high school as well as in classes at WSU that I would eagerly read again, yet Huckleberry Finn is not one of them. To me, it just seemed like a story of the wanderings of a runaway boy, and did not impress me.