To begin with, I believe I should confess immediately that I am writing under a pseudonym. "Hector Lewis Errorladen, Ph.D." is in fact an anagram of my true name (first, middle, and last), regarding which I have decided to remain reticent for the time being. I do, however, have a doctorate; I am prone, sadly, to the committing of many errors; C. S. Lewis has been a rolemodel of mine, not least as a stylist, for many years; and in the course of any blogging I might do I shall inevitably hector my readers insupportably. For these reasons I do not think it is inappropriate for me to lay these posts before the public under the guise of Dr. Errorladen.Next, I think I should explain the words composing the title of this weblog: Drolleries seems fitting, since I have always had difficulty remaining solemn or soberminded about anything, as many of my friends can testify; and so I imagine that these posts will more often be attempts to amuse and divert than to enlighten or reform. Orphan I chose for two reasons: First, because I have never known my biological parents, and so am something of an orphan myself; and second, because I fear that these posts will themselves eventually be orphaned, abandoned by their author to time and the elements, by the force of which they shall eventually disintegrate into half-phrases and semiwords and, finally, collapse into dust and stray serifs. Wretched, I think, is self-explanatory--or shall become so. Finally, in company with my nom de plume, "Wretched Orphan Drolleries" is an anagram of my real name--yet so perfect a heading for these little outbursts that I would keep it even without the additional tincture of cleverness that this circumstance provides. Adieu.
