Posted on 09/02/2005 11:01:48 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The controversy over who wrote Shakespeare's works has reached a turning point of sorts. A new biography of the Earl of Oxford improves on the unorthodox argument that he was Shakespeare, while fantasy has now been firmly established as a primary tool of other, more traditional Shakespeare studies.
The problem is that there is so much to be guessed at about Shakespeare that scholars of all stripes are moved to indulge in educated - or in some cases quite fanciful - leaps of faith.
Even the Shakespeare canon is not exempt: "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works" (Oxford University Press), published last month, includes a play called "Sir Thomas More," which derives from an unpublished Elizabethan manuscript. The claim has long been made that the handwriting in part of one scene compares favorably with six scrawly Shakespeare signatures generally accepted as genuine. Fewer than half of the lowercase letters and only a fraction of the capitals are in Shakespeare's signatures, but that seems to be enough for the Oxford editors, whose decision will please those eager for proof that Shakespeare is Shakespeare.
Three other new books provide more arguments for this camp.
To begin with, there is the question of Shakepeare's source materials. Shakespeare had to have read a lot of books. Books were valuable. But in his will, where he was very specific about a second-best bed for his wife and about who should get plate, a sword and various rings, there is no mention of books.
In "1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare" (Faber & Faber, 2005), James Shapiro, a professor of English at Columbia, notes, "There's no way that Shakespeare could have bought or borrowed even a fraction of the books that went into the making of his plays."
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
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