> Which of the following author names is a pen name, or not their actual name?Considering Mary Shelley, Lewis Carroll, Sylvia Plath, and Albert Camus, theanswer is: Lewis Carroll.Photo credit: Amazon.com.Best known for writing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll was bornin 1832 with the name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. According to the Lewis CarrollSociety of North America, Dodgson adopted his pen name in 1856 because he wasmodest, and wanted to maintain the privacy of his personal life.While works written in anonymity or published under a pseudonym might feel likean anomaly, much of the history of literature comes from works withoutattachment to a name. It's now strange to think of Pride and Prejudice or Frankenstein without knowledge of their authors, but thus was the reality at thetime of their publishing. Publishing anonymously or under a pseudonym reached its peak around the mid-19thcentury. Scottish librarian Simon Halkett went so far as to compile a sort ofanthology of British works – a project that eventually spanned nine volumes ofstories and novels written pseudonymously or anonymously. Interestingly, mostwell-known British authors have been tied to an entry in its pages. There are many reasons why authors lean toward pen names, or leaving their nameout altogether. One of such reasons is Anglicization – during the 18th and 19thcenturies, authors whose surnames reflected a nationality that was distinctlynon-Western would change their name to better align with a British or Europeanaudience. Others, such as Theodor Giesel (perhaps better known as Dr. Seuss[https://www.askqotd.com/sam-i-am/]), changed their names to appeal to youngeraudiences and inspire whimsy ("Seuss" was the surname of his mother but thepronunciation was changed to rhyme with "goose" – i.e., Mother Goose). Other authors took pen names to differentiate new works from those for whichthey were most famous. Among such authors is mystery writer Agatha Christie[https://www.askqotd.com/agatha-christie/], who published romance novels as MaryWestmacott. Horror writer Stephen King even published some titles under thepseudonym Richard Bachman in an attempt to avoid the industry criticism ofpublishing "too many" books in one year. Once Bachman was discovered to be Kinghimself, the author announced that Bachman had died from "cancer of thepseudonym."Learn more about pen names and their history here[https://www.audible.com/blog/playlisted/article-what-is-a-pseudonym-guide].