In case people don’t know, JK Rowling’s pen name is a reference to Robert Galbraith Heath, a psychiatrist who experimented with gay conversion therapy in the 60s and 70s using surgically implanted electrodes on gay men’s brains. He claims to have “cured” one of them. He did lots of other fucked up things too, and of course Rowling denies her pen name has anything to do with him. FWIW, she also claims she’s not a bigot, but her words and actions clearly indicate otherwise.
JK Rowling’s pen name is a reference to Robert Galbraith Heath, a psychiatrist who experimented with gay conversion therapy in the 60s and 70s using surgically implanted electrodes on gay men’s brains.
Unless thats some conservative dog whistle I don’t know about, (and I’m no JKR apologist) your statement directly contradicts her own official answer as to the origin of the name:
Why the name Robert Galbraith?
I chose Robert because it’s one of my favourite men’s names, because Robert F Kennedy
is my hero and because, mercifully, I hadn’t used it for any of the characters in the
Potter series or The Casual Vacancy.
Galbraith came about for a slightly odd reason. When I was a child,
I really wanted to be called ‘Ella Galbraith’, and I’ve no idea why.
I don’t even know how I knew that the surname existed, because
I can’t remember ever meeting anyone with it. Be that as it may,
the name had a fascination for me. I actually considered calling
myself L A Galbraith for the Strike series, but for fairly obvious
reasons decided that initials were a bad idea.
Odder still, there was a well-known economist called
J K Galbraith, something I only remembered by the time it was
far too late. I was completely paranoid that people might take
this as a clue and land at my real identity, but thankfully nobody
was looking that deeply at the author’s name.
It’s British slang for a convict or prison term. It’s not very common now, but “old lag” used to mean a habitual criminal. No idea of the etymology though - maybe related to a lag (in time)?
Can you think of another author who uses JK before their surname? It would have been a pretty big hint as soon as people realised JK Galbraith didn’t exist.
None, but it still feels like someone wanted to add to her list of crimes. Like is he famous? Is it likely she knew of some random scientist before she came up with the pen name?
Plus her name is literally Joanne Rowling. She already had one initial.
Sorry, I confused myself and thought you were replying to a later comment - I thought you were asking how people would have guessed JK Rowling and JK Galbraith were the same person.
I think it’s fair to say Robert Galbraith-Heath is an (in)famous psychiatrist. I remember his name from my student days. As for her purposely using the name of a conversion therapist as a pen name in order to… be more homophobic? That seems like a bit of a leap to me, but idk her bigoted views in any real depth tbh.
And I looked up the other name before I realised I’d confused myself and found there was a famous JK Galbraith too, according to wikipedia He sounds like a bit of a dick too. Sorry for the confusion, I need sleep.
JK Rowling also writes as Robert Galbraith.
Does that qualify as irony?
Irony of the subtype heavy.
In case people don’t know, JK Rowling’s pen name is a reference to Robert Galbraith Heath, a psychiatrist who experimented with gay conversion therapy in the 60s and 70s using surgically implanted electrodes on gay men’s brains. He claims to have “cured” one of them. He did lots of other fucked up things too, and of course Rowling denies her pen name has anything to do with him. FWIW, she also claims she’s not a bigot, but her words and actions clearly indicate otherwise.
Unless thats some conservative dog whistle I don’t know about, (and I’m no JKR apologist) your statement directly contradicts her own official answer as to the origin of the name:
Why the name Robert Galbraith?
I chose Robert because it’s one of my favourite men’s names, because Robert F Kennedy is my hero and because, mercifully, I hadn’t used it for any of the characters in the Potter series or The Casual Vacancy. Galbraith came about for a slightly odd reason. When I was a child, I really wanted to be called ‘Ella Galbraith’, and I’ve no idea why. I don’t even know how I knew that the surname existed, because I can’t remember ever meeting anyone with it. Be that as it may, the name had a fascination for me. I actually considered calling myself L A Galbraith for the Strike series, but for fairly obvious reasons decided that initials were a bad idea. Odder still, there was a well-known economist called J K Galbraith, something I only remembered by the time it was far too late. I was completely paranoid that people might take this as a clue and land at my real identity, but thankfully nobody was looking that deeply at the author’s name.source
What’s wrong with LAG other than computer lag?
It’s British slang for a convict or prison term. It’s not very common now, but “old lag” used to mean a habitual criminal. No idea of the etymology though - maybe related to a lag (in time)?
I don’t see how. The initials JKR dont appear anywhere in there, is there something Im missing?
Can you think of another author who uses JK before their surname? It would have been a pretty big hint as soon as people realised JK Galbraith didn’t exist.
None, but it still feels like someone wanted to add to her list of crimes. Like is he famous? Is it likely she knew of some random scientist before she came up with the pen name?
Plus her name is literally Joanne Rowling. She already had one initial.
Sorry, I confused myself and thought you were replying to a later comment - I thought you were asking how people would have guessed JK Rowling and JK Galbraith were the same person.
I think it’s fair to say Robert Galbraith-Heath is an (in)famous psychiatrist. I remember his name from my student days. As for her purposely using the name of a conversion therapist as a pen name in order to… be more homophobic? That seems like a bit of a leap to me, but idk her bigoted views in any real depth tbh.
And I looked up the other name before I realised I’d confused myself and found there was a famous JK Galbraith too, according to wikipedia He sounds like a bit of a dick too. Sorry for the confusion, I need sleep.
No worries, I do the same thing sometimes. I hope you sleep well!