The Bronte pseudonyms

Thormählen, Marianne

doi:10.1080/00138389408598916

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

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“…For example, Mary Shelley—despite being the daughter of feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and a staunch advocate for gender equality herself—initially published Frankenstein (1818) anonymously. Later, in the early and mid-19 th century, female novelists continued the tradition of publishing under male pennames (e.g., Mary Ann Evans as George Eliot, Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin as George Sand, and the Brontë sisters as Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell, among others), presumably in order to avoid audience and editorial prejudices [ 4 – 6 ]. At the start of the 20 th century in France, Colette greatly increased the reputation of her then-husband as a writer by ghost writing his Claudine stories and novel during the early stages of her career.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linguistic gender congruity differentially correlates with film and novel ratings by critics and audiences

Nalabandian

Ireland

2022

PLoS ONE

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The film and publishing industries are fraught with gender disparities, with men overpowering nearly every sector of these domains. For instance, men are not only paid more than women in the film industry, but they also outnumber women in positions such as director, screenwriter, and lead acting roles. Similarly, women often resort to assuming gender-neutral or male pseudonyms to increase their prospects in the publishing industry. This widespread gender inequality in the film and publishing industries raises the question of how writers’ gender relates to gendered language and narrative receptions. Two archival studies examined whether gender-linked language relates to film (N = 521) and novel (N = 150) ratings, and whether those associations differ as a function of writer gender or the expertise of the rater (professional critics and lay audience members). Results demonstrated that female screenwriters and novelists used a more feminine style of writing, whereas male screenwriters and novelists used a more masculine style of writing. Lay audiences gave more positive ratings to films and novels by writers who used a more gender-congruent writing style, in contrast with professional critics, who gave more positive reviews to films by writers who used a more gender-incongruent writing style. Our findings substantiate past research regarding the differing tastes of lay audiences and professional critics in addition to lending insight into subtle social dynamics that may sustain gender biases in the film and publishing industries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%