Wacky names in fiction

There's also the ploy of not naming the protagonist at all, sometimes used with first person narratives.

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Yeah, right, this is why Nabokov's complicated - in HH's case it's a pseudonym, chosen by himself, & HH is creating pseudonyms throughout (Haze only rhymes with Lo's surname?), and iirc there's something tricksy about the narrator in most of the novels that'll mess with the reader in that way. Sometimes find that a bit wearing with him tbh.

Like Zelda, the naming thing I find the naming thing fascinating in a very minor way - it bugged me slightly that Anthony Powell would almost always choose place names for his characters (Widmerpool aside I think). Or I'm curious why I find that Jocelyn Brooke's names always seem very unlikely (not in a lolway, just, well unlikely; difficult to imagine anyone having them).

Machen has a tiny pool of names for often quite varied characters, so that you quite often find people with very similar names across stories with no connection.

Dickens is wonderful, no doubt - they have a wonderful heft and feel to them, appropriate with being forced. Martin Amis' ones annoy me. Nabokov's have that half-reflection of something aspect that links in with his aesthetic.

Widmerpool aside I think

Wikipedia says a village in Nottinghamshire

Supposedly Amis has a character in a forthcoming book - not the Pregnant Window - called Lionel Asbo. I loled.

Sounds like the kind of name you'd come up with if you wanted to parody an Amis novel, though.

... and having googled it, he's a "lottery-winning criminal who hooks up with someone rather like Katie Price". Don't think I'll be reading this one.

It's quite nice to read Zelda Zonk, Frankie Machine and Isambard Kingdom Buñuel decrying this practice.

But those Waugh names from Sword of Honour aren't really wacky........................tho' he does like choosing borderline weird or seeming-to-signify names throughout & for all characters..

I confess your distinction between "wacky" and "borderline weird or seeming-to-signify" is too subtle for me.

Sorry woofwoofwoof rereading that is sounds snotty in a way that wasn't intended.

It's quite nice to read Zelda Zonk, Frankie Machine and Isambard Kingdom Buñuel decrying this practice.

Pwned. Although the semiotics of Internet handles is probably a whole different kettle of poissons!

Nah, that's cool realised I was a bit unclear and the grey area's bigger than I was acknowledging. Basically, I'd be distinguishing between names that wouldn't wouldn't make you go 'wut?' if you met them socially (in 1930), and those that would: so I think Paul Pennyfeather, Basil Seal, Tony Last, John Beaver, Guy Crouchback, William Boot are all passable in that way, odd or significant though they might seem if you stop for a sec. Whereas the aristo titles in eg Decline & Fall are wacky - Metroland, Tangent, Circumference; also uses it a bit elsewhere - Miles Malpractice, Mrs Ape, Miss Thanatogenos in The Loved One. Those out-and-out weird names are closer to the Dickens/Pynchon thing, but the centre-stage stuff tends to be restrained - but my threshold is maybe high for this.

he's a "lottery-winning criminal who hooks up with someone rather like Katie Price". Don't think I'll be reading this one.

Haha no I am totally in. Think Amis might be at his best now when he's just spewing about repulsive caricatures living in some hysterical lazily imagined version of pop culture. Better that than saying important about men & women, or commenting on Islam or, if Yellow Dog is anything to go by, constructing plots.

Lionel Asbo. That is f'in lazy.

'importnat things' I think that should be. & spelt like that.

Lionel!

His signature dance move is the 'Big Lionel' which comprises hiatus in tapping before an elaborate theatrical twirl. This is typically followed by a grin and one clap of the hands before the tap dance is resumed.

A friend in Manchester writes;

Martin Amis has been giving some really creepy talks on sex and old age on campus

Predictable news.

Albert Albert. House Mother Normal.

I'd forgotten Waugh's having a character named Metroland. That's great I think.

I still like two of the four names mentioned in Chronic City. I kind of wonder whether there's actually anyone with a real sounding name in the book.

Albert Albert. House Mother Normal.

Being positioned next to each other, am I to assume that you mean Albert Angelo? Which isn't 'wacky' at all... Also, I can't remember if the House Mother is actual meant to be called House Mother Normal... she is referred to solely as House Mother in the text.

I'm finding this thread interesting, actually, as my pet writing project now is based on nominative determinism and aptronyms.

The main character of Albert Angelo is (it is strongly implied) called Albert Albert. Actually I think in one of the later sections the narrator-as-Johnson calls himself out for trying to be clever with this?

I couldn't remember what the House Mother is actually called.

I'm finding this thread interesting, actually, as my pet writing project now is based on nominative determinism and aptronyms.

i don't understand this sentence

—Not that I am not fond of Albert, for I am, very; Albert, a slightly comic association with the name, offset today, as a name, and Albert Albert, to emphasize his Albertness, hisness, itness, uniqueness, yes, fond of him I am, very, even though I have hardly provided you with a description of him, a corporate being, I know, but he stands for me, i don't need one: Albert, who stands for me, poor fool.

Ah, you could be right on AA, the comparison with Nabokov is starting to ring a vague bell... and it is the only one of his I haven't re-read recently. I have a suspicion that he did intend for House Mother to be called House Mother Normal, but kept it out of the main text on purpose - it works for her as the author's puppet, but not as a human, and that artifice needs to be maintained until the end. (xpost, okay, you are right on Albert!)

As for the other sentence, which bit don't you understand? It is intended to convey the fact that I currently have a writing project, the main body of which is directed by the idea that one's name can have an effect on one's future (nominative determinism)... An aptronym is similar, but doesn't imply causation, merely correlation between name and e.g. occupation.

An example of nominative determinism:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=870138&cmd=showdetailview

well, now i know what those are it makes sense

first paperback eds of 'trawl' and 'albert angelo' have shown up where i work. can't really justify buying them. curious whether i still like johnson or not.

Yes, yes you do. Because otherwise you would be wrong. So very very wrong.

trawl has the most awful cover: a mixed-media picture of a mermaid, with a photo of a topless model for the top half and a painted tail. and then 'winner of the Somerset Maugham award'.

Haha, yes, I have that one. It's not great.

Nominative determinism at work

do people still do that pomo kafka thing and name their characters n or d? kinda big in the 80's. just wondering.

But those Waugh names from Sword of Honour aren't really wacky...

I'm thinking if you're a man called Evelyn, who marries a woman called Evelyn, your real life is so full of name-related unlikeliness that you can name your characters whatever you like.

Barf Latrigg