Of the same name

[undyingking]

You might have heard the joke that X's books were in fact not written by X, but by another man of the same name. I find it interesting because, while being entertainingly silly as a proposition, it also asks a fairly serious question about what we mean by authorship and how historical record works. But that's not what this post is about! – I'm curious to know, as your recollection serves you:

[Poll #1666257]

Comments

[caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com]

Stephen Norton. D'Oh.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I think of it as an Eric Morcambe jokke, but can't recall the subject

[ninthcouncil.livejournal.com]

Oh come on. They were written by Christopher Marlowe, everyone knows that. He was the Tupac Shakur of the Reformation.

[rufusfrog.livejournal.com]

Charles Dikkens! (Ethel the Aardvark goes quantity surveying). Not exactly what you're talking about - but in a similar vein: http://www.inprint.co.uk/thebookguide/bookshop-skit.htm

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Homer, and in that case I don't think it asks a fairly serious question about what we mean by authorship. It just highlights that the authorship of the Illiad and Odyssey is unknown (or, if you like, that "Homer" is a word defined to mean, "whatever person or persons authored or contributed to those works").

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

You've done a lot of polls recently that did not offer ABWAG as an option. I may start abstaining!