Can you imagine Oskar Josef Bschließmayer as the melancholy hero of a Truffaut film?
Or Frederic Austerlitz and Virginia Katherine McMath as the most elegant dancing couple in film history?
Are you fascinated by the surrealistic moods in the paintings of Domenikos Theotokopoulos?
Do you love the voice of the incomparable Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos?
There are many reasons for adopting a pseudonym. That one has little chance of becoming a famous film star with a rather awkward name is the most obvious. For singers, writers and visual artists too, the choice of a pseudonym is not unusual. But also people from other walks of life often want or have to discard their birth name.
Upon election to office, Popes take new names and members of the orders also mark their transition from a worldly existence by choosing a new name. Thus, in this Encyclopedia one can discover under which order name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu became famous, for example. On the other hand, several of the largest criminals in human history did not spread fear and trembling under their original names, e.g. Joseph W. Dzughashvili und Saloth Sar.
The 16-volume International Encyclopedia of Pseudonyms is a unique project, both in terms of its form and extensiveness: some 635,000 pseudonyms of roughly 270,000 people are deciphered here.
The term "Pseudonym" is applied in a very broad sense: besides pseudonyms in the narrower sense, initials, nick names, order names, birth and married names are included, where known, as well as mystifying and glorifying terms with which a person has been labelled.
The volumes 1 to 9 list persons by their real names in alphabetical order. To make the unequivocal identification of a person easier, year and place of birth and death are provided where available, as are profession, nationality, the pseudonym under which the person was known, and finally, the sources used. The names of professions given in the source material have been translated into English especially for this encyclopaedia. In the second part, covering the volumes 10 to 16, the pseudonyms are listed alphabetically and the real names provided.
This Encyclopedia is the first to compile pseudonyms from all over the world, from all occupations, and all ages in a single work. Many sources were previously only accessible with some difficulty or to a limited circle of users because of the language or script used in the original. The first two volumes of the International Encyclopedia of Pseudonyms will be published in 2005. The work will be finished in 2007.
The International Encyclopedia of Pseudonyms is incomparable in its extensiveness and its diversity. A work that will facilitate and enrich biographical research, but which also incites inquisitive browsing.
INGLES, ALEMAN, FRANCES, ITALIANO Y ESPAÑOL
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