'Elia, the real': The original of Lambs Nom de Plume

Abstract

In August 1820 Charles Lamb began using the pseudonym Elia in the London Magazine, and it was as 'Elia' that he produced the body of work on which his reputation as one of the great English essayists largely rests. In June 1821 he revealed to his publisher, John Taylor, that there had been an 'ELIA, the real' from whom he 'usurped' the name. This 'real' Elia, who has-oddly, but revealingly-not been investigated by Lamb scholars, was the minor littrateur Felix Elia, or Ellia, born in London, like Lamb, in 1775. He died in 1820, approximately one month after Lambs usurpation of his name: one of the strangest coincidences in English literary history. This article provides an account of the life and work of Felix Ellia, then proceeds to consider his relationship to the fictional 'Elia' of the London Magazine, and Lambs reasons for using the name.