Author bell hooks opted not to capitalize her name, hoping to keep the public’s focus on her work.
Did she ever admit that this strategy backfires, that this effort at minimizing her name maximizes her name? It's like the old saying if you want people to listen to you, whisper. Maybe that's what she wanted! Why not?
But over her decades at the forefront of Black feminist writing, the punctuation choice became a constant curiosity....
McGrady's word choice is a curiosity. "Punctuation"? Capitalization isn't punctuation.
Early on, hooks, born Gloria Jean Watkins, wanted a way to honor her maternal great-grandmother while detaching herself from her work. She wrote dozens of books using her great-grandmother’s name but didn’t capitalize it.
I think this means that the great-grandmother's name was bell hooks. But McGrady is forcing me to guess... and then go to Wikipedia to check and I see that the great-grandmother's name was Bell Blair Hooks. An excellent name, and much cooler than Gloria Jean Watkins... though perhaps there's a feminist issue in the preference for Bell Blair Hooks over Gloria Jean Watkins. What's in a name? A lot, when you're a wordsmith!
What does "detaching herself from her work" mean?
During a 2013 visit to Rollins College, she told an audience that she always wrote her name in lowercase because she wanted people to focus on her books, not “who I am.” (Ironically, the spelling of her name became a matter of public fascination.)...
It's an interesting concept, because these days, everything seems to be about identity. There's more about who wrote it than what was written, and if the wrong type of person writes something it can destroy the reputation of the work. (Remember "American Dirt"?)
“Even when people capitalize my name, I don’t freak out, even though that would not be my choice,” she said in a 2009 interview. “I’m not attached to it, and in that sense I think we have to choose, what are the issues that really matter? I think we are obsessed in the U.S. with the personal,” she continued, “in ways that blind us to more important issues of life.”
Still, she admitted to getting “a little pissed at people who write me and want me to do things, and spell my name wrong.”
Spell?! Don't get me started. Capitalization is not spelling.
I think when people capitalize a name they are following a rule of consistency within their own writing. You can de-capitalize your name on your own book cover, but how can you reach into other people's writings and change their system? Well, you can if you can. You can shame or scare them into violating their own rules for you. But she only said she got pissed — "a little pissed" — at people who write to her and ask her for something and don't follow her approach to her name. That's not the same as expecting major publications to adopt your approach to capitalizing your name.
I wonder if she thought it was funny that she could get people to cater to her. Look at Wikipedia, not capitalizing "hooks" even when it begins a paragraph:
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I use tim maguire wherever possible as a form of humility. But I've never been famous so there's not a lot of reason for it to backfire.
This reminds me of E.E. Cummings. There is a sort of often repeated myth about him that he preferred his name in lowercase as well.
Maybe she just knew more about orthography. In English capitalization of the first letter of a name means it is a proper noun, which means that there is one and only of the thing designated.
Did she ever admit that this strategy backfires, that this effort at minimizing her name maximizes her name? It's like the old saying if you want people to listen to you, whisper. Maybe that's what she wanted!
Ain’t no “maybe” about it.
So both bell hooks and J.K. Rowling chose their own names, and now they may both be detached from their work in different ways.
Recall that "The artist formerly known as ___________" was able to bend many to his name-as-symbol will not long ago. Some want to be pushed and enjoy being pushed into a new space. Ask them why.
I'd never heard of bell hooks until she died, and expect she'll be remembered for capitalization more than anything she wrote. She was apparently yet another postmodernist from a generation of thousands of left academic postmodernists, so whatever she believed will be rapidly reprocessed by the next generation of this inherently never-any-stable-ground ideology. Unless "woman" somehow becomes a firm and defined concept?????
Would the so-called "biological female" author "jk rowling" be remembered similarly without caps?
"Did she ever admit that this strategy backfires"
No, since her actual strategy worked perfectly. Althouse, you are not assuming all of a sudden that feminists, unlike everyone else, believe what they profess to believe, do you? Or are feminist women that special?
Anyway, the confusion of capitalization with punctuation or spelling is just one more sign that the world is falling apart. Which is only half-facetious: since communication in a shared culture depends on conventions, the subversion of those conventions by refusing to capitalize names, or by using third-person plural for a single person, hacks away at the common world.
Capitalization isn't punctuation.
Clyde McGrady was underserved at his educational institutions.
I've never heard of her, so it didn't work as well as for e e cummings. Maybe it was the works.
Instead of marginalizing people who clearly have poor judgment (like leftist Wikipedia editors), we are increasingly allowing those imbeciles to sit at the steering wheel. Since I don't have kids, I'm not too worried about the increasing odds that progressives will create another failed utopia here. But, for those of you who do, good luck with that.
There's that extra information that all of humanity should know about that particular person. Not just the name, but also the parameters regarding its use. Most others are satisfied with the the conventions of the relevant language, society, culture etc. There are all the names, and this is how they are written (except a few - Prince comes to mind). Likewise, a particular male could declare an acceptable pronoun - him, but in this one case it should be capitalized. The effort to remember this exception is expected as a matter of politeness. That expectation itself can arguably be considered rude.
I think "detaching herself from her work" means not believing her own bullshit.
There are billions of people that have contributed more to our society than all but a handful of "feminist" writers. Or really 99.999% of the "intellectual" class.
If you want to be celebrated for doing nothing of value call yourself a feminist writer.
Plumbers and HVAC technicians and truck drivers are infinitely more productive and valuable to society. Talking about a random truck driver at the local bus stop would be more interesting than talking about whoever this person was.
The name also separated her from Gloria Jean's Coffee Beans.
You can de-capitalize your name on your own book cover, but how can you reach into other people's writings and change their system? Well, you can if you can. You can shame or scare them into violating their own rules for you.
Gosh. Might our host not be limiting herself to a discussion of capitalization?
To each his own, as long as they don’t sue or cancel me if I choose to not go along with their personal policy. These naming cases are a sort of lab experiment, so I think I will let them reach their end in peace, no fanfare needed.
This woman literally wrote the book on intersectional wokeness, so I won't miss her. And I thought her lack of capitalization was because punctuation was a tool of the patriarchy or something. Certainly that was how it was interpreted by her radfem disciples. Obituaries are being far too nice to this woman.
Ha! It took several readings of the first sentence - the 'incorrect' capitalization - before continuing to read the whole caption: stating the exact thing I was hung up on!
"No, since her actual strategy worked perfectly. Althouse, you are not assuming all of a sudden that feminists, unlike everyone else, believe what they profess to believe, do you? Or are feminist women that special?"
Read all the sentences in the post, and you will have your answer.
Put me in the "who?" category.
If you choose to play in the public arena, it helps to have a catchy hook to garner popularity.
I am changing my name to "tafkap enes kanter freedom metta world peace." Then I am dropping all the 'r's from it as a protest against the shitty state of the world today. There's a symbol in there too, but I couldn't find an html character for it
It’s like the Amish who long ago opted to dress in a plain style in order not to attract attention, but now that style of dress makes them stand out. It has an opposite effect.
Capitalization isn't punctuation. But non-capitalization isn't either. What is that, then? Lower-casing? Uncapitalized, as in lacking funding? Copying e.e. cummings' publisher?
I found her to be tediously elitist and racist towards whites. She certainly didn't suffer financially and said a lot of untrue things. And of course, we were only to worship her, not question her historical and economic inaccuracies.
I had to read a lot of hooks in grad school.
If I recall correctly, she linked her rejection of proper capitalization of her name to her Buddhism.
Whatever. Even Audre Lourde was less annoying.
Big deal.
ee cummings did it years ago.
And he was white. Er, White. So, na na na na ya.
Real, real tired of all the liberal/commie stuff celebrating nobodies.
The real question is how is she cited in AP style? Who wins that battle?
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