Talk:Teju Cole: Difference between revisions
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Please let me know if I've misunderstood the policy, if Cole has changed his name, or if there's another good reason to conceal it from the lead. |
Please let me know if I've misunderstood the policy, if Cole has changed his name, or if there's another good reason to conceal it from the lead. |
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[[User:Nickknack00|Nickknack00]] ([[User talk:Nickknack00|talk]]) 15:18, 26 February 2015 (UTC) |
[[User:Nickknack00|Nickknack00]] ([[User talk:Nickknack00|talk]]) 15:18, 26 February 2015 (UTC) |
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I apologize for writing this here, as I don't yet have the hang of the talk pages. Thank you for your work on these pages. I am the author, but I did not write the original entry, nor do I regularly adjust the information on here unless it is factually wrong or misleading. I changed back the edit using the birth names in the main column of the article because the birth name is clearly stated on the Wikipedia page, in the sidebar (indeed, that information is there because I myself put it there, in 2012). There is no standard for handling noms de plume on Wikipedia: what is significant is that the birth name, if known, is included in the sidebar. Otherwise, since each author or artist has a different reason for a name change, and different degrees of change (legal, marital, social, literary, etc), the inconsistency in the way it is handled is to be expected. In my case, the change of the name extends to all current usage, including publication, professional, and legal. Given this, it seems to me misleading to assert the birth name and previous nickname in the main body of the article (again, it is clearly marked in the sidebar), as though the new name were "only" a pen name, and somehow not real. What the previous editor is not aware of is what name the author bore in his Nigeria years, what he was called at school, what he was called at home, etc. In the absence of that knowledge, I would argue that the preferred name (the strongly preferred name), as evinced by hundreds of appearances and dozens of publications, should be allowed to stand. With the previous editor's edits, what happens now is that the birth name comes up immediately in searches. This information, technically accurate at a point, is misleading, and should be secondary. On a personal note, I also find it a distraction, as though I had undergone a sex-reassignment surgery and I were being referred to by my previous pronoun. It's nothing so dramatic, but it's vaguely analogous. I respect Wikipedia's standards, but I also feel that this is a case where there's some leeway. This information is handled differently for Toni Morrison, Marguerite Yourcenar, Tea Obreht, Jhumpa Lahiri, and a number of contemporary writers who use a name other than the ones they're born with, but whom I do not wish to out. The information, when available, is provided, but there is no standard format. |
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Anyone who wants to know my birthname can find it in an instant. If it's the first thing that comes up on a Google search, it becomes a topic of discussion, and this is precisely what one wishes to avoid in the matter of a name change. Thank you for your consideration. |
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[[User:Simultanagnosia|Simultanagnosia]] ([[User talk:Simultanagnosia|talk]]) 03:48, 28 February 2015 (UTC) |
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Revision as of 03:48, 28 February 2015
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This article looks like an advertisement for the author and needs to be rewritten in a more unbiased way. 96.231.154.140 (talk) 21:26, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
First mention
I recently revised the first mention to include Teju Cole's full name:
- Obayemi Babajide Adetokunbo "Yemi" Onafuwa, better known by his pen name, Teju Cole...
Simultanagnosia reverted this edit. It's possible Cole has changed his name, but I think this is his birth name and current legal name. It wasn't my intent to "out" Cole; rather, I noticed that his full and preferred names are published widely in biographical articles with his consent. A few sources:
Yemi Onafuwa
- "Current PhD Students". Columbia University Department of Art History and Archeology. 2011.
- DeRitter, Margaret (September 2011). "From New Yorker Envy to Literary Acclaim". BeLight. Kalamazoo College. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
{{cite web}}:|archive-url=is malformed: save command (help) - "Teju Cole Wins 2012 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award". Kalamazoo News. Kalamazoo College. 6 March 2012.
Obayemi Babajide Adetokunbo Onafuwa
- "Book of the Month: Open City, Teju Cole". The Buzz...About Books. Toronto Public Library. July 2014.
Cole has published several Flemish art history articles as Yemi Onafuwa, so it seems like signficant information to document. His birthname is mentioned in the infobox, but it's my understanding that the above is the standard "first mention" format for writers using a nom de plume, c.f. Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss, George Orwell, and Manual of Style policy.
Please let me know if I've misunderstood the policy, if Cole has changed his name, or if there's another good reason to conceal it from the lead. Nickknack00 (talk) 15:18, 26 February 2015 (UTC)
I apologize for writing this here, as I don't yet have the hang of the talk pages. Thank you for your work on these pages. I am the author, but I did not write the original entry, nor do I regularly adjust the information on here unless it is factually wrong or misleading. I changed back the edit using the birth names in the main column of the article because the birth name is clearly stated on the Wikipedia page, in the sidebar (indeed, that information is there because I myself put it there, in 2012). There is no standard for handling noms de plume on Wikipedia: what is significant is that the birth name, if known, is included in the sidebar. Otherwise, since each author or artist has a different reason for a name change, and different degrees of change (legal, marital, social, literary, etc), the inconsistency in the way it is handled is to be expected. In my case, the change of the name extends to all current usage, including publication, professional, and legal. Given this, it seems to me misleading to assert the birth name and previous nickname in the main body of the article (again, it is clearly marked in the sidebar), as though the new name were "only" a pen name, and somehow not real. What the previous editor is not aware of is what name the author bore in his Nigeria years, what he was called at school, what he was called at home, etc. In the absence of that knowledge, I would argue that the preferred name (the strongly preferred name), as evinced by hundreds of appearances and dozens of publications, should be allowed to stand. With the previous editor's edits, what happens now is that the birth name comes up immediately in searches. This information, technically accurate at a point, is misleading, and should be secondary. On a personal note, I also find it a distraction, as though I had undergone a sex-reassignment surgery and I were being referred to by my previous pronoun. It's nothing so dramatic, but it's vaguely analogous. I respect Wikipedia's standards, but I also feel that this is a case where there's some leeway. This information is handled differently for Toni Morrison, Marguerite Yourcenar, Tea Obreht, Jhumpa Lahiri, and a number of contemporary writers who use a name other than the ones they're born with, but whom I do not wish to out. The information, when available, is provided, but there is no standard format.
Anyone who wants to know my birthname can find it in an instant. If it's the first thing that comes up on a Google search, it becomes a topic of discussion, and this is precisely what one wishes to avoid in the matter of a name change. Thank you for your consideration.