Names

I recieved a comment asking why I changed by blogger name from Kasier Soze to J.M.R. Burgard, and it got me thing about names themselves (yet again).

The decision to change this name did not change who I am on this end of the computer, yet it is likely to change others perception of me on the other hand. That is, in fact, why I did it. Because that name appears on all eleven (at last count, I think) of my blogs, some of which are being operated on a semi-professional basis (in effect, they are scholarly but only because I want them to be). In an attempt to further the view that my writings are of an at lest semi-high calibur, I choose to switch my name from that of a fictional chracter to my pen name (it is my real name, just not the way I usually write it).

Taking this around to Shakespeare, it is the name, I think, more than the 'disguise,' which keeps people from recognizin others. Poor Tom is not Edgar because he is Poor Tom, not because he is wearing rags. Viola is Cesario and a man not because she is no longer in her 'womans-weeds' (or at least not only), but because she has adopted the name of a man. Likewise, I am no longer a reflection of a fictional character, but now have a scholarly appeal (okay, so that may be pushing it, but meh).