The identity of Elena Ferrante, the elusive author (and subject of a series of essays in the current issue of T) who has never been photographed, interviewed in person or seen in public, is a matter of intense debate thanks to her sharp, autobiographical novels, which explore female friendship in the context of Italian society. On the eve of the publication of "Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay," the third volume in Ferrante's Neapolitan series, we offer a short history of literary masks, from Jonathan Swift to J.K. Rowling.
埃琳娜·费兰特(Elena Ferrante)是一个难以捉摸的作家（本期的T杂志中也有若干文章是关于她的），她的照片从未公之于众，从不接受个人访谈，也从不在公众中出现，她那些犀利的、自传性质的小说以意大利社会为背景，探索女人之间的友谊，引发了激烈的争论。新书《离开的和留下来的》(Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay)是她的那不勒斯系列小说的第三卷，在这本书出版前夕，我们来盘点一下那些隐姓埋名的作家们——从乔纳森·斯威夫特(Jonathan Swift)到J·K·罗琳(J. K. Rowling)。
Jonathan Swift
乔纳森·斯威夫特
Thanks to Swift's cloak-and-dagger tactics, not even his publisher knew the true identity of the author of "Gulliver's Travels." The writer sent an intermediary to hand off the manuscript under the cover of night, along with a letter supposedly from Gulliver's cousin.
由于乔纳森采取间谍式的隐瞒策略，连他的出版社也不知道《格列佛游记》(Gulliver's Travels)的作者是谁。这位作家派中间人在夜间把自己的手稿送出，还附上信函，暗示去信人是格列佛的表亲。

Benjamin Franklin
本杰明·富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)
The founding father used a number of pseudonyms to publish opinionated newspaper pieces: "Silence Dogood" to critique hypocrisy and hoopskirts; "Polly Baker" to argue for women's rights; "Anthony Afterwit" to detail the tribulations of marriage. Franklin's most famous alter ego, "Richard Saunders," authored the popular "Poor Richard's Almanack" for 25 years.
这位美国的建国先贤用一系列笔名在报纸上发表刚愎自用的文章：《不切实际的宁静》批评伪善和带裙撑的长裙；《波利·贝克尔》主张妇女权利；《事后聪明的安东尼》描述婚姻中的痛苦。富兰克林最有名的一个变化人格名叫“查理·桑德斯”(Richard Saunders)，他撰写广受欢迎的《穷查理年鉴》(Poor Richard'sAlmanack)长达25年。

Sir Walter Scott
沃尔特·司各特爵士(Sir Walter Scott)
Nicknamed "The Great Unknown," Scott secretly published his wildly successful "Waverley" novels and, in so doing, helped forge the genre of historical fiction. He maintained anonymity for years, keeping his work a secret even from his own children, until financial pressures forced him to confess.
司各特绰号“伟大的无名氏”，他极为成功的小说《威弗利》(Waverley)等都是用这个名字出版的，它们为历史小说这种类型奠定了基础。他多年保持匿名，秘密写作，连他的孩子们也不知道这回事，直到家中出现经济压力，他才被迫坦白交代。

The Bront·sisters
勃朗特姊妹(The Bront? sisters)
Charlotte, Emily and Anne produced their masterworks of Victorian literature under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. They chose these androgynous monikers because of "a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice," an impression shared by at least two other great "authoresses" of the day, George Eliot and George Sand.
夏洛特(Charlotte)、艾米丽(Emily)和安妮(Anne)用柯勒(Currer)、埃利斯(Ellis)和阿克顿·贝尔(Acton Bell)为笔名发表了维多利亚文学中的杰作。她们采用没有明显性别特征的笔名，是因为她们“有一种模糊的感觉，觉得女性作家容易遭受成见”，至少同时期的另外两位“女作家”乔治·艾略特(George Eliot)和乔治·桑(George Sand)也和她们有同感。

Sholem Aleichem
肖洛姆·阿莱赫姆(Sholem Aleichem)
At the start of his career, the prolific writer whose work would inspire "Fiddler on the Roof" didn't want his relatives to know he was publishing in Yiddish rather than Hebrew. The novelist, born Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, adopted the pen name "Sholem Aleichem," a Hebrew greeting that means "peace be unto you," and authored dozens of books under the pseudonym.
这位作家非常多产，《屋顶上的小提琴》(Fiddler on the Roof)就是根据他的作品改编的，在他从事写作之初，并不想让亲戚们知道自己是用意第绪语而不是希伯来语写作。于是这位本名所罗门·瑙莫维奇·拉宾诺维奇(Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich)的作家起了“肖洛姆·阿莱赫姆”这个笔名，意思是希伯来语的“祝愿你获得平静”，他用这个名字写了几十本书。

Louisa May Alcott
路易莎·梅·阿尔科特(Louisa May Alcott)
In addition to her celebrated tales of stalwart sisters and lovable orphans, Alcott wrote lesser-known novels with titles like "The Abbot's Ghost, Or Maurice Treherne's Temptation" and "Behind a Mask, Or a Woman's Power." She published these stories of love and suspense under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard — a mask of her own.
除了她那些关于斯图尔特姊妹和可爱的孤儿们的著名故事，阿尔科特还写过一些不那么有名的小说，比如《阿博特的幽灵，或毛里斯·特伦赫纳的诱惑》(The Abbot's Ghost, Or Maurice Treherne's Temptation)以及《面具之后，或女人的力量》(Behind a Mask, Or a Woman's Power)等，她用笔名A·M·巴纳德(A. M. Barnard)发表了这些充满爱意和悬疑的小说，这也是她自己的面具。

James Weldon Johnson
詹姆斯·威尔顿·约翰逊(James Weldon Johnson)
In Johnson's groundbreaking "Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man" (1912), a young man of mixed race decides to pass as white. As its author had hoped, the anonymously published novel "passed" as memoir until Johnson acknowledged it to be fiction in 1927. "Autobiography" went on to influence generations of African-American writers.
在约翰逊1912年石破天惊的小说《一个前有色人种的自传》(Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man)中，一个混血儿希望自己以白人的身份蒙混过关。正如作者所愿，这部匿名出版的小说也被当做回忆录而“蒙混过关”了。直到1927年，约翰逊才承认它是虚构的。《自传》继续影响了好几代非裔美国作家。

Fernando Pessoa
费尔南多·佩索阿(Fernando Pessoa)
Thomas Crosse, literary critic. álvaro de Campos, naval engineer. Maria José, consumptive hunchback. These are just three of the many characters invented by Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. Each so-called "heteronym" possessed unique psychologies, biographies and writing styles, and Pessoa published prolifically under their names as well as his own.
文学评论家托马斯·克罗斯(Thomas Crosse)、造船工程师阿尔瓦罗·德·坎波斯(álvaro de Campos)。患有肺病的驼背玛利亚·何塞(Maria José)。这只是葡萄牙诗人费尔南多·佩索阿虚构出来的众多身份中的三个。每个所谓“同义者”都具有自己独特的心理状态、个人简介和写作风格，佩索阿用他们的名字和自己的名字发表了大量作品。

Dominique Aury
多米尼克·奥利(Dominique Aury)
Aury wrote "Story of O" (1954), a sadomasochistic novel replete with whips, cuffs and chains, under the pseudonym Pauline Réage. The accomplished woman of letters kept her scandalous feat a secret until 1994, when she identified herself as the mysterious author — and, just as mysteriously, mentioned that "Dominique Aury" was not her real name, either.
1954年，奥利以笔名波丽娜·雷阿日(Pauline Réage)发表了《O的故事》(Story of O)，这是一部以施虐受虐为主题的小说，充满皮鞭、手铐和锁链。这位才华横溢的女作家隐瞒了这个不道德的成就，直到1994年才承认自己就是这个神秘作家。同样神秘的是，她还声称“多米尼克·奥利”也不是她的真名。

J.K. Rowling
J·K·罗琳
Hoping to receive "totally unvarnished feedback," the "Harry Potter" author adopted the pseudonym Robert Galbraith when she published "The Cuckoo's Calling," a book for adults, in 2013. It wasn't the first time she had concocted a name: Joanne Rowling started going by initials, including a fictitious "K," when a publisher warned her that boys might not buy books by a woman.
这位《哈利·波特》(Harry Potter)的作家希望得到“不加修饰的反馈”，于是在2013年以罗伯特·加尔布雷思(Robert Galbraith)为笔名出版了《布谷鸟的呼唤》这本书，这本书是写给成年人看的。这并不是她第一次起笔名了：她原名乔安妮·罗琳(Joanne Rowling)，后来她把“乔安妮”变成了首字母“J”，还加上了一个虚构的首字母缩写“K”，因为一个出版商告诫她说，男孩子们不会买女人写的书。