"Although I was born in the USA, my parents were from Scandinavia, and named me for a grandfather; hence the spelling. This was in 1926."

"In grade school the teachers kept telling me I wasn't spelling my own name right, and I got my back up about it. The proper pronunciation is not an Anglo-Saxon noise--about midway between 'powl' and 'pole.' I'll answer to anything.

"My father, Anton William Andersen, was born over here but educated in Denmark. He was the son of a sea captain and no relation to the great Hans Christian. He disliked his first name and never used it, being Will or Willy to his friends. During World War One he came back to join the United States Army. There he grew tired of explaining the spelling of his surname and Anglicized it to Anderson.

"A literary tradition exists on the other side; my...