Pseudonymous Novels and Their Critics

With the recent dust-up over J. K. Rowling's use of a pseudonym to publish an adult novel, some have been questioning her motives. The New Yorker today published an essay entitled, "Doris Lessing and the Perils of the Pseudonymous Novel" by James Lasdun, who once recommended that the work of that eminent author, writing under a pseudonym, be passed by. You may be surprised by his reflections on that decision.