Subject: Re: [HM] Question from Richard (Dick) Askey
From: Thomas L. Drucker (tld@globalim.com)
Date: Mon Jan 31 2000 - 11:00:32 EST
Subject: Rigid Designation
With regard to Richard Askey's question (forwarded by Tom Apostol),
the task of the writer of biographical articles is not always easy. In
particular, even if a given mathematician was generally known by his
surname, if there are other members of the family cropping up with
regularity, the use of a first name can help pin down to whom reference is
being made. In the case of Hardy, that should not be much of a requirement.
When one is writing for reference books for teenagers, there is
sometimes the temptation to try to make the individual in question more
human by referring to him by a first name. As a result, some use of first
names when otherwise inappropriate makes it seem as though the author is
trying to address a younger audience of readers. There are Sherlock Holmes
pastiches, for example, that have Holmes and Watson calling one another
'John' and 'Sherlock'. This interferes with the recreation of the atmosphere
of the original stories, and biographers who use as a matter of course forms
by which their subject was not known during his lifetime have the same
difficulty in recreating the atmosphere of the original. When editors lay
down guidelines, however, authors may not have the luxury of choice.
Thomas Drucker
tld@globalim.com
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