This study explores how two female authors from the 19th and 20th centuries navigated theliterary public sphere. It addresses the questions: What motivated these authors to publishunder pseudonyms, in contrast to contemporary practices of self-disclosure on the internet?and What do these strategies reveal about women's position in the public sphere? The aim isto investigate how self-representation, gender, and power influence the ability to be heard,seen, and acknowledged as a writer under varying historical conditions.Through a hermeneutic analysis of literary works from the respective periods, alongsidecontemporary statements on social media, the meaning of anonymity and today's self-disclosure are compared, with a critical review of power structures and the prevailing normsof the current eras. The result shows that publishing under a pseudonym gave the femalewriter a certain freedom without expectations, and that parallels can be drawn to today'sdigital pseudonyms that can act as both protection and limitation; how writers today marketthemselves, and how the different authors have essentially dealt with the same women's issuesand desire to reach out.