In the 1960s, when I took a college course in 19th Century English
literature, the professor told us that the literary convention of
omitting proper names and replacing them with initials, hyphens, or
blanks was an attempt to enhance the believability of the story by
implying that real-life information was being omitted, as if the novel
were a scandal-sheet or tabloid gossip publication (while avoiding
accusations of libel or inaccuracy by not giving real, identifiable
names). I've gathered some information about this for you.
Here's a concise explanation by author John Barth:
"Initials, blanks, or both were often substituted for proper names in
nineteenth century fiction to enhance the illusion of reality. It is
as if the author felt it necessary to delete the names for reasons of
tact or legal liability. Interestingly, as with other aspects of
realism, it is an illusion that is being enhanced, by purely
artificial means."
Electronic Labyrinth: Postmodernism and the Postmodern Novel
http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0256.html
"... a literary convention of the time when many books and pamphlets
were written criticising the government of the day, or important
figures, by using false names... Some rather scurrilous stories were
also printed which were thinly veiled parodies or criticisms of
important figures.
So when Jane Austen wrote the _________shire regiment, or the Earl of
_________, she was a)avoiding the pitfall of being accused of
inaccuracy and b) avoiding the pitfall of being accused of criticism
of some important political figures."
Republic of Pemberley Archive: More or less
http://www.pemberley.com/bin/archives/regarc1.pl?read=9221
"Novelists had multiple solutions available to avoiding accidental
negative references which could be construed as political commentary
or other scandalous remarks on public figures. The 'Mr. H-- G--ing' of
political and scandal writing (jobs which early novelists like Manley
and Haywood and Swift did for a living, their work influencing novel
convention) was adopted by later novelists who were not actually
personally pamphleteers and writers of romans a clef due to its
ability to create a specific effect, a tension - indeed to suggest the
potent presence deriving from scandal and factity, veiled - hinting
that something funky is up; an ominous feeling, accompanies, (or can
accompany), the dash, required to conceal and protect."
TalkAbout: Omissions in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
http://www.talkaboutabook.com/group/rec.arts.books/messages/435555.html
"In English novels, this coyness device and others related to it
starts early, with Defoe and Haywood et al. This is where it comes
from: Novels in early genres, especially courtship novels but also
racy novels and social novels like Defoe's, posed as actual found
documents, manuscripts discovered by the 'editor' (author) - dairies
or letter collections or memoirs - which the 'editor' believes should
be published for the edification and entertainment of the public. That
pose quickly becomes conventional. To protect the privacy of the real
human beings whose writings/stories the novels pose as recounting -
and to 'prove' the 'editor' is making the ms public for disinterested
motives and not prurient intentions or to sow scandal (developing the
editorial/authorial persona of novels) Mr B-----'s name, for example,
(in Richardson) goes undisclosed, and actual places are also
disguised, giving the impression of a text delivering something like
gossip (the dash was common in scandal sheets too). The dashing out of
place and proper names was also common to 18th c. pornography."
TalkAbout: Omissions in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
http://www.talkaboutabook.com/group/rec.arts.books/messages/435484.html
I hope this is helpful! If anything is unclear or incomplete, or if a
link doesn't work for you, please request clarification; I'll be glad
to offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
