Elizabethan england featured numerous playwrights of lowly or humble backgrounds, some even worse off than shakespeare. In addition, no document attests that he received an education or owned any books. The best books about shakespeare interesting literature. The end of the authorship question thoughtfully and brilliantly erases all doubt as to the authorship of shakespeares plays.
The shakespearean authorship trust, who really wrote. Mccreas position on the authorship question is instantly clear. Since the 1920s, the oxfordian theory has been the most popular alternative. The editor, professor william leahy, is deputy vicechancellor at brunel university london. Some scholars argue that parts of his plays were written by other playwrights, some argue that he did not write any of his plays, while others believe that he did not exist at all. Npr public editor academics equate a morning edition interview to climate change denial. Read the fulltext online edition of the case for shakespeare. This solidest of evidentiary blows references authorship scholar diana price and her own extraordinary book shakespeare s unorthodox biography. Four essays on the shakespeare authorship question. Authorship of shakespeares macbeth freebooksummary. Although we know a great deal about his legacy through his plays and sonnets, we know little about the man himself exactly who was shakespeareunsurprisingly then, a number of conspiracy theories have built up around. For more than two hundred years, the authorship of the works known as the shakespeare canon has been called into question. As james shapiros new book rehearses the loony arguments about our greatest playwright, robert mccrum asks some of todays finest shakespearean actors and directors. But the alternate histories offered by people who reject shakespeares authorship are far stranger, abounding in secret ciphers, baroque conspiracies and readings of the plays as fantastical as.
Though most literary scholars reject all alternative authorship candidates, including oxford, popular interest in the oxfordian theory continues. Shakespeare authorship controversy questia online library. As someone who has studied shakespeare authorship for some time i got this book with little expectation of finding much that was new. All were financially assisted by the shakespearean authorship trust, or created by the trusts board members. After shakespeares death, ben jonson explicitly identified william shakespeare, gentleman, as the author in the title of his eulogy, to the memory of my beloved the author, mr. Why the shakespeare authorship question matters to. The shakespeare authorship mystery would appear to be a fine example of one of these manmade mysteries, teaching us, by means of searching for the true author of the shakespeare works, how to search for the truths of life and ultimately the true author. A shakespeare scholar takes on a taboo subject the. In 1599 a volume of poetry entitled the passionate pilgrim was published and attributed entirely to shakespeare. If youre looking to know about who really wrote shakespeare s works, shakespeare authorship and books on, shakespeare authorship, visit our website right now. The shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than william shakespeare of stratforduponavon wrote the works attributed to him.
Oxfordian theory of shakespeare authorship project. Authorship controversy shakespeare across subject areas. A must read for anyone interested in western culture and literature and the nature of. Among mainstream shakespeare scholars, contested will may be disconcerting for another reason. The book was released in hardcover by greenwood press in 2001. Its short, light, engaging, humorous, with its distinct approach being to discount as much of the speculation about shakespeares life as possible, and instead focus solely on the facts of his life that we definitely. And he describes shakespeare there, in that poem, as the sweet swan of avon. For 30 years, the authorship roundtable has provided a global forum and safe haven for the continued unbiased exploration of the shakespeare debate.
As james shapiros new book rehearses the loony arguments about. Authorship companion is a text that challenges the ways in which we attempt to define what we mean by shakespeare and his work, and we should expect nothing less from taylor and the oxford shakespeare. Shakespeare authorship 101 shakespeare oxford fellowship. Indeed, this book did cover much territory some of which for me was unknown and has left me resolved to find out more on the topics she has raised. He marshals all the arguments, pseudoarguments, and pure propaganda against the stratford man that he can while neglecting or misrepresenting almost all of the best evidence for himsuch as. Shakespeares true identity has been in dispute since the eighteenth century because only fragments of evidence have survived the 400 years since his death. The shakespeare authorship question is a theory which was first proposed during the victorian era that william. In 1997, joseph sobrans book alias shakespeare introduced many newcomers to the shakespeare authorship question. Each chapter in this book explores an issue that has not been closely investigated, bringing new depth to the shakespeare authorship question. Shakespeare authorship question project gutenberg self. A core part of the shahan book, she looks at each writer in terms of education, correspondence concerning literary. Books on the shakespeare authorship question the marlowe. Michell spends most of his book trying to discredit shakespeares claim to exclusive authorship of his works, and to build up the claims of his rivals. Fourteen more recommended shakespeare authorship coalition.
William shakespeare and what he hath left us, published in the first folio 1623. No personal letters or literary manuscripts certainly written by shakespeare of. In the nineteenth century, just as shakespeares reputation as the greatest writer in the english language seemed undeniable, doubts began to creep in regarding whether shakespeare of stratforduponavon was really the author of the plays and poems attributed to his name. The only resource on the shakespeare authorship question to give you all the evidence, arguments and counterarguments and let you decide for yourself. Using a variety of different attribution methods, the new oxford shakespeare has confirmed the presence of other writers hands in plays that until recently were thought to be shakespeare s solo work. List of books and articles about shakespeare authorship.
Shakespeare s plays contain such vast knowledge of foreign places and familiarity with courtly and aristocratic affairs to have been written by someone born so low in englands social order. New evidence of an authorship problem by diana price for those new to the authorship controversy, this book will help you understand and appreciate why the question exists at all. But early on in the book is a wonderful poem in praise of shakespeare by ben jonson. Discover librarianselected research resources on shakespeare authorship controversy from the questia online library, including fulltext online books. This book, published in 1997, examines the legacy of shakespeares work, the way it has inspired others from romantic poets and novelists to twentiethcentury postcolonial theorists, and how shakespeare s writing is constantly reinvented and recast by each new generation. The shakespeare authorship coalition runs this website to introduce the shakespeare authorship controversy, or shakespeare authorship question, and let people sign the declaration of reasonable doubt about the identity of william shakespeare. New book explores early doubts about shakespeares authorship.
In compliance with the accepted terminology used within the shakespeare authorship question, this article uses the term stratfordian to refer to the position that william shakespeare of stratforduponavon was the primary author of the plays and poems traditionally attributed to him. New evidence of an authorship problem reopens the authorship question with an arsenal of new information and powerful arguments. Why the shakespeare authorship question matters to teenagers. It is the first major authorship book since 1916 without an ideological bias, and the first to undertake a systematic comparative analysis with other literary biographies.
A neutral compendium for the curious, an invaluable resource for shakespeare researchers, an essential rea. It begins with a bold declaration from a university lecturer that william shakespeare was a con man, a faker and a forger. Diana price is the author of shakespeares unorthodox biography. Shakespeare s unorthodox biography new evidence of an. Shakespeares first published works were two narrative poems, venus and adonis 1593 and the rape of lucrece 1594. Fourteen books by leading authorship skeptics that have been published since the declaration was issued in 2007. Much speculation has been made about the authorship of shakespeares plays. This is our choice for a popular book on shakespeare written by a nonshakespearean. Oxfordian theory of shakespeare authorship wikipedia. Written in an accessible style without the bitterness that characterizes some oxfordian writings, sobrans book presented a superficially plausible case for oxfords authorship of. Nevillean theory of shakespeare authorship wikipedia. A short summary cannot do justice to the myriad reasons why oxford is the most plausible alternative candidate for the shakespeare authorship, and why so many informed and independent thinkers have concluded that he was, in fact, the true mind behind the mask of the bard. The authorship companions essays explore and explain these processes, laying out everything we currently know about the works authorship. Twentytwo shakespeare scholars, tired of the absurd claims of many of the antistratfordians, have coauthored a book presenting what they believe is overwhelming evidence that shakespeare wrote the plays and poems attributed to him.
Though literary scholars reject all alternative authorship candidates, including oxford, interest in the oxfordian theory continues. One passage in particular that raises a few questions is act iii, scene v, in shakespeares macbeth, where the. The shakespeare authorship question is a theory which was first proposed during the victorian era that william shakespeare did not write the plays and poems which were accredited to. He makes it clear that his fellow writer, the author of these 36 plays is a writer from by the river avon. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1, 2, or 3 months new customers receive 15% off your. In this remarkable book, shakespeare scholar james shapiro explains when and why so many people began to question whether shakespeare wrote his plays. If youre looking to know about who really wrote shakespeares works, shakespeare authorship and books on, shakespeare authorship, visit our website right now. Many books and articles have been written arguing that someone other than william shakespeare, the glovers son from stratforduponavon, wrote the plays and. Wildenthal has published a landmark new book, early shakespeare authorship doubts. Shakespearean actors and directors their thoughts on the authorship. Antistratfordiansa collective term for adherents of the various alternativeauthorship theoriessay that shakespeare of stratford was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not want or. Discover librarianselected research resources on shakespeare authorship controversy from the questia online library, including fulltext online books, academic journals, magazines, newspapers and more. Those words are enough to compel daniel ryhope, a fellow lecturer in english literature, to embark on a quest to uncover the truth about the authorship of all those plays and sonnets.
The only book on the shakespeare authorship question to catalogue, comprehensively, the evidence and arguments from both sides of the debate, point by point, in a clear, accessible format. The book refutes the commonly heard stratfordian claim that nobody entertained any doubts about authorship until hundreds of years after the death of william shakspere of stratforduponavon 15641616, the actor and businessman conventionally credited as the author. The plates and apparatus inside the riverside shakespeare make it a book on shakespeare as well as an addition. A scientific approach to the authorship question, sturrock explores the argument through the eyes of four fictional characters, each with a.
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