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Apparently, even in 1901 they had problems with alters
What we (I?) sometimes forget is that alters were not created with the internet. Writers have been using alters for centuries. Even the ancient Roman poets… well, ok, in all fairness the lyric poets used alters for their lovers rather than themselves, and, actually, some of them (*cough* Catullus *cough*) went to great lengths to insert their own names into their poems so that, 2,000 years later, we may still be debating whether “Lesbia” does or does not refer to Clodia—but we are crystal clear on the fact that Catullus was the one stalking her.
The point is: for centuries people have been perfecting the art of alters, for various reasons. Despite this, I find the following excerpt from a 1901 “Topics of the Times” article (Source: The New York Times) unaccountably amusing:
A Chicago poet, Bertrand Shadwell by name—at least he signs himself that way, but it is hard to believe Bertrand and Shadwell go together in real life—has written a poem. [...] While he was about it, Bertrand Shadwell—how on earth did those two names come together?—might just as well have listed a few more cases of antagonism. [...] Why didn’t Bertrand Shadwell—queer combination, that—mention the one flight as well as the other?
It’s not just the fact that the author is so confounded by Shadwell’s name that s/he draws attention to it three times—it’s that the entire article is perhaps 400 words long, and even under the pressure of space and word count the author still had to toss in those three comments. And an editor let them stay!
At least these days we can be nearly positive that “PurpleZephyrUnicorn” is an alter (although, given the, uh, “creative” liberties parents are increasingly taking when naming their kids, I’m no longer prepared to bet on that). Poor Bertrand Shadwell. Either his (her?) attempt to create an alter failed miserably, to where the writer of a brief review felt compelled to draw attention to the unlikely name three times… or else Shadwell was living proof that today’s parents don’t have a patent on bad names.
There is a sweeping statement that could be made here, re: alters, names, authenticity, and the necessity to develop credibility in writing, but I’m not sure how much weight anyone could give such a statement coming from me. Can you imagine? “A blogger, Halt Near X by name—at least, it signs itself that way, but it is hard to believe anyone could be so incompetent as to fail to find X—has written an article…”
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