Home 5 News 5 George Eliot among 25 female writers being republished using their real names

George Eliot among 25 female writers being republished using their real names

by | Aug 20, 2020 | News

Works of 25 female novelists who used to write with male pseudonyms, including Vctorian-era Mary Ann Evans known as George Eliot, will be re-published using their real names.

Under the project “Reclaim Her Name” by the Women’s Prize for Fiction in celebration of the award’s 25th anniversary, pseudonymous authors include George Sand, Mary Bright known as George Egerton, Fatemeh Farahani, known as Shahein Farahani, and Julia Constance Fletcher known as George Fleming.

The chosen novels span genres, from science fiction to horror, and their authors are just as diverse, hailing from countries including Japan, France and Iran.

The 25 novels are being offered as e-books, which are free to download via the prize’s sponsor, Baileys. Physical box sets of the republished titles will also be donated to libraries across the UK.

Evans was the literary force behind the great novels, “Middlemarch” but for much of her life known by George Eliot, which she adopted to conceal her gender at a time when women were excluded from intellectual circles.

Her secret identity became a source of widespread speculation in Victorian England after several of her stories, published under the George Eliot pen name, gained popularity.

Evans longed to write back and come clean, lamenting to her publisher that “the iron mask of my incognito seems quite painful”. The following year, people began misattributing her work to various individuals and the secret began leaking from her inner circle, leading the author to reluctantly reveal her identity.

Other novels chosen include “Marie of the Cabin Club” by Ann Petry, the first African American woman to sell more than a million copies of a book, under the pseudonym Arnold Petri.

Also featured is “Indiana”, the work of Amantine Aurore Dupin, known as George Sand, one of 19th-century boldest European writers. She wore men’s clothing, smoked tobacco in public and was rumored to have female lovers.

Source: CNN

Recent News

17Jul
Penguin Supports Winn Amid Controversy

Penguin Supports Winn Amid Controversy

Penguin said release date of On Winter Hill would be changed in order to ‘support the author’ after allegations that Raynor Winn lied in her bestselling memoir. Author Raynor Winn’s new book has been delayed because questions about her bestselling work The Salt Path have caused her and her husband “considerable distress”, her publisher has […]

17Jul
Farshore  Revives ‘Portly the Otter’

Farshore Revives ‘Portly the Otter’

HarperCollins’ children’s imprint Farshore has acquired The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Untold Tales from the Wind in the Willows by award-winning children’s author M. G. Leonard. The book of exciting spin-off stories from the much-loved classic The Wind in the Willows, written by Kenneth Grahame and illustrated by E.H. Shepard, will publish in March […]

16Jul
Firefinch to Debut in 2026 with Star Authors

Firefinch to Debut in 2026 with Star Authors

Publishing veteran Kate Parkin, who worked for Random House and was most recently MD of the adult publishing division at Bonnier Books UK, is launching a new independent publishing house, Firefinch.  It is a co-venture with her Bonnier colleague Margaret Stead who was Bonnier publisher. Among the authors who are making the jump with them […]

Related Posts

Farshore  Revives ‘Portly the Otter’

Farshore Revives ‘Portly the Otter’

HarperCollins’ children’s imprint Farshore has acquired The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Untold Tales from the Wind in the Willows by award-winning children’s author M. G. Leonard. The book of exciting spin-off stories from the much-loved classic The Wind in the...

Firefinch to Debut in 2026 with Star Authors

Firefinch to Debut in 2026 with Star Authors

Publishing veteran Kate Parkin, who worked for Random House and was most recently MD of the adult publishing division at Bonnier Books UK, is launching a new independent publishing house, Firefinch.  It is a co-venture with her Bonnier colleague Margaret Stead who was...

Al Faya: Where History Took Its First Steps on the Sands of the Desert

Al Faya: Where History Took Its First Steps on the Sands of the Desert

In a timeless moment etched into the memory of human heritage, the sun of Sharjah rose once again on the map of the world, this time through the gateway of deep history. At its recently concluded 47th session in Paris, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially...

Previous Next
Close
Test Caption
Test Description goes like this