Anonymity

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Week 6 (300 word limit)

I admit that I was surprised how strongly some people feel about the use of “anonymous” or pseudonyms for publishing. To continue using Nikki Gemmel, I'm still unsure as to what the problem of her publishing anonymously is, although writing her name in a letter at the book's end does seem somewhat defeatist. I suppose that there is always a fear for authors that those around them are going to get caught in whatever crossfire their works produce. I know myself that my family would be quite surprised to read some of my material and attribute it to me. As Burke also says, an author's name immediately attaches something else to the work. More often than not, especially in terms of fiction, people (at least the ones I know) take or leave and judge a book against who it was written by. Publishing anonymously takes away these judgements and leaves only the written work itself, which is not exactly a bad thing.

Of course, if the author is meant to provide a sense of authority on their chosen topic, be it fiction or non-fiction, I can see where anonymous publishing can be harmful. But then, I do have to wonder how much of this harm really lies with the author, or with public assumptions. We are hurt that a man writes about the experiences that his sister/mother/spouse have been through only because we wanted it to be a woman's perspective. I suppose that this runs along the same lines as the idea that authors should be obligated to provide a moral core to their work – absolutely not. The reading public should be able to (should be made to, even) think for themselves every once in a while.