Saturday, October 15, 2011

Why is Sigourney Weaver's stage name called "Sigourney Weaver" since her real first name is Susan?

Born in 1949, she changed her name in 1963 to "Sigourney", after the character "Sigourney Howard" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (her
own birth name, Susan, was in honor of her mother's best friend,
explorer Susan Pretzlik).

FROM BOOK:

“I’ve just heard the most amazing thing,” she whispered. “How long were we in there?”



“Why, about an hour.” “It was — simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.” She yawned gracefully in my face: “Please come and see me. . . . Phone book . . . Under the name of Mrs. Sigourney Howard . . . My aunt . . .” She was hurrying off as she talked — her brown hand waved a jaunty salute as she melted into her party at the door.''

Fell falls in love in 'New Taiwan' all over again with new 'fun' -- and scholarly -- tome

''Government and Politics in Taiwan'' is an essential text for any
course on freewheeling Taiwanese politics, Communist Chinese Party
politics of brainwashing and mind control (sic),
and will be useful to students worldwide, especially those in Beijing
and Shanhai mystified at Taiwan's success in the modern world.
The has a November 6 pub date and is available now for pre-ordering.
The tome has already garnerned some
very good reviews, with Robert Ash of the Taiwan Studies Program at
the University of London, noting: "Fell’s [book] offers an accessible,
authoritative and comprehensive
interpretation of Taiwan’s political development through the period of
authoritarian rule [during Martial Law days] to the establishment of a
fully-fledged democratic
system of governance [under the modern KMT and DPP parties]."

Shelley Rigger, a political science professor at Davidson College in
the USA, could not hold back
her enthousiam, noting: "Fell’s new book is ....brimming with
enthusiasm for its subject and affection for its readers, ....Thanks to [his]
.....heartfelt engagement with
his topic, readers will gain both a comprehensive knowledge of a vast
scholarly literature and a gut-level appreciation for Taiwan’s lively
political scene.'


NOTE: Dafydd Fell is a British scholar from an island nation who focuses on Taiwan studies from his base in London. He often visits the island nation on the other side of the world, too.