Anonymity and Pseudonymity of Writers

Good day, good people.

For devotees of the English language. A jongleur is a storyteller.

The writers of the Bible may be the most famous anonymous writers in history. They wrote about events which may or many not have taken place. They did so without providing accurate information or first-hand knowledge but used hearsay, rumor, myth, fables and a vivid imagination to advance their quest.

Some of the early creative writings by anonymous writers whom did not take credit and did not even sign “Anonymous” were the jongleurs of the Bible — Old and New Testaments. Even biblical scholars do not offer the names of the scribes; in fact the opposite, they admit they do not know who wrote which. And as to when is another guess. The consensus of scholars is: the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were all written somewhere between 35 AD, CE, and 150 CE and not by the four apostles and not by witnesses of the events in the gospels either. But these creative writers had a desire to generate an interest in Christianity and have their potential converts give up paganism.

The Council of Nicaea was called by Constantine in 325 CE for business reasons: to codify the Christian gospels into an anthology and to stop the violence between the pagan worshipers of Mithra, the Byzantine sun god, and the Christians by elevating Jesus from a first-century Jewish man, probably with a wife, to a deity and on the same level as Mithra. Mithra’s birthday was always celebrated on 25 December. In order for Jesus to be equal because the bishops did not know the birth date of Jesus, they agreed to use 25 December as his birth date.

As an example of anonymous creative writing, the bishops of the Catholic church and/or their minions used an Egyptian myth to elevate Jesus to a deity. It was the birth by Immaculate Conception of the god Horus by the goddess Isis which was thousands of years old and applied it to Mary and Jesus. At the same time they accepted four gospels and rejected many others which did not fit their view, including, but not limited to the gospels of Mary Magdalene, Thomas and Judas. The anonymous also attributed miracles to Jesus which had been performed previously by mythical deities and gods in previous millennia,

Most scholars agree the Old Testament is a multi-edited history of the Jewish people by anonymous-creative writers whom had an interest in giving history their view of it for the benefit of its readers. Just because it is old does not make it accurate. Reminds me a lot of an autobiography and a biography written by one who uses the facts. The biography is quite different and has a working relationship with accurate information.

Late 18th century writers of novels wrote anonymously with the exception of the writer, Henry Fielding, who wrote Tom Jones. Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Daniel Defoe joined the anonymous ranks, too. Samuel Johnson put his name on the Dictionary of the English Language, but wrote other works incognito.

A writer jealous of Walter Scott, who wished to remain a secret writer, was criticized by another writer of taking the food out of his mouth.

Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Emma were written by Jane Austen anonymously. Samuel Clemens said, “Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and hit over the skull with her own shin-bone.” If it was so bad why did he continue to pick it up?

Charles Dickens wrote with anonymity as Boz until he wrote The Pickwick Papers. In 1898 Arnold Bennett said about The Old Curiosity Shop “. . . of all the rotten vulgar un-literary writing . . ! Worse than George Eliot’s. If a novelist can’t write where is the beggar.”

Todays most famous-secret writers are a group of peaceful activists whom use computers, try to bring to the fore tolerance, change and peaceful disobedience in honor of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. — they call themselves Anonymous.

Today pseudonymity is a necessary precaution in the minds of writers who wish to protect themselves and their families. They are not standing by waiting for someone else to make a difference. They write about the fanatics among us whom exist in every segment of our society. They murder doctors and medical staff members who perform abortions legally, others who disagree with them, murder those who are different than they, curtail freedom of speech by fear, curtail criticism by the weak by fear and cause society to be at the mercy of the few — fanatics and zealots.

What is your thought on anonymity and pseudonymity?

Contacting me with comments and constructive criticisms with honesty and pleasantness, their constant companions, will always be welcome.