W___ In The W___D Does This M___

[lfm]

Hi, Ive always been somewhat confused as to why certain names in certain books (particularly foreign, from my experience) are 'edited' out like that.
Can anyone shed some light on why they do this?
Thanks

 

[Stewart]

It's the polite German convention of referring to people merely by the initial letter of their surname. Also, it gives a sesnse of place without being specific.

 

[sparkchaser]

I have wondered this as well. I was reading (but never finished) Futureland by Walter Mosley and I ran across a similar thing. He would use something like "Good afternoon M__ Harris" and I had no idea how that would make any sense in conversation.

 

[nomadic myth]

It's rampant in classics.

 

[lfm]

I know!
It always drives me crazy. Especially since one place will have its full name, then the next not. I always assumed that the author must've written the full name in the original work.. so why edit it out later?

 

[Bluraven]

Poe is full of this sort of thing. Really annoying.

 

[angerball]

Hmm, that's something I've always wondered about too.

 

[lfm]

Poe is full of this sort of thing. Really annoying.

He's who I was reading when I finally decided to ask. And I agree!

 

[Lady Reader]

James Reese did this in his horrible book Book of Shadows. The name of the convent the main character stayed at was always abbreviated C__. That, among many other things in this book, drove me batty. I couldn't finish it.

 

[Occlith]

I think some authors do that to portray that the narrator is talking about an actual person and that they are protecting privacy or being tactful.

 

[chiangmaifalcon]

Yes from what I understand this is done to prevent getting sued for libel or to protect privacy of person.

 

[morgani]

Still doesn't make sense to me.