"Il travestimento sociale: l’uso dello pseudonimo in età vittoriana"

This article nvestigates the functions of the pseudonyms in Victorian literature and shows both how it was charged by writers, who are “great name-fiddlers”, with crucial meanings also as far as gender is concerned. Going both back to the tradition of keeping one’s identity secret during the 18th century and forward up to 20th century, it focusses on pseudonyms used by men such as, for instance, reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson who to publish Geometry books went on keeping his real name while signed nonsensical novels as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland using the pen-name of Lewis Carroll. Since the literary canon of Victorianism was masculine, the article analyses the mechanisms and exegetical implications underlying the use of male noms de plume by women: Mary Ann Evans (alias George Eliot) and the Brontës sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne alias respectively Currer, Ellis e Acton Bell). It contemplates also exceptions to the rule such as Arnold Bennett (a.k.a. Sarah Volatile or Barbara) and Frederick Stephens (a.k.a Laura Savage).