Category: Shakespeare
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Recently I had the opportunity to take an advance look at North by Shakespeare, by Michael Blanding, which is now in print. It's an unusual work in some respects. For one thing, the author himself is something of an agnostic on the subject of Shakespearean authorship. More important, North by Shakespeare deals only in part with…
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Longtime readers of this blog know that I sometimes take a break from our usual psi-related content to write about another outré topic, the Shakespeare authorship controversy. I won't reprise my reasons for disbelieving the standard story about the prodigy from Stratford, who overcame the handicap of an illiterate household and a meager education in…
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Note: From time to time, I put up a post on the Shakespeare authorship controversy. I realize this subject is of little interest to most of this blog's readers, but I continue to be stubbornly intrigued by it. INTRODUCTION Years ago I wrote a brief essay on William Stanley, the sixth Earl of Derby, as…
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For decades, people who suspect that the works of Shakespeare were written by someone other than "the Stratford man" have looked for a decisive piece of evidence to seal the case. In the 19th century, when Francis Bacon was the most popular candidate among "anti-Stratfordians," there was something of a craze for ciphers. Enthusiasts became…
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Update, February 16, 2018: Rather surprisingly, Dennis McCarthy seems to have repudiated his book North of Shakespeare, withdrawing it from sale and even claiming (in a brief discussion with me on Facebook) that he never said Thomas North wrote the canonical plays included in the First Folio. You can judge for yourself. Here's the promotional…
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I'm back. Took a hiatus from blogging, not out of choice, but because a) a hurricane devastated my hometown, and b) I was without power for almost ten days, requiring me to c) hopscotch from one motel to another across New Jersey, during which time I d) acquired a respiratory infection. Oh, and e) I…
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Update, February 16, 2018: Rather surprisingly, Dennis McCarthy seems to have repudiated his book North of Shakespeare, withdrawing it from sale and even claiming (in a brief discussion with me on Facebook) that he never said Thomas North wrote the canonical plays included in the First Folio. You can judge for yourself. Here's the promotional…
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Regular readers know I'm of the opinion that the works of Shakespeare were actually written by Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. This position is, to put it mildly, controversial, and among the academic community it has not found many takers. Some of the arguments put forth by Shakespearean scholars are quite complicated…
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Back in 2005, I ran a post on Mark Anderson's book "Shakespeare" By Another Name, which impressed me greatly. Now the book has been released in a new, updated edition, in both print and ebook form. The book's homepage is here. Also check out Mark's excellent blog. Since I'm too lazy to write anything new, I'm reposting my…
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File this under the category of “fun stuff.” I don’t know if it has any significance, but it’s kind of neat. As regular readers know, I think it’s likely that the works of Shakespeare were written by the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere. There are many reasons to suspect that “the Stratford man”…