Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Who Wrote Shakespeare? PDF Author: John Michell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500281130
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Reprinted from 1st pbk. ed., published in 1999. Originally published in hardcover in 1996.

Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Who Wrote Shakespeare? PDF Author: John Michell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500281130
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Reprinted from 1st pbk. ed., published in 1999. Originally published in hardcover in 1996.

Contested Will

Contested Will PDF Author: James Shapiro
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416541632
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro explains when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote his plays.

Shakespeare by Another Name

Shakespeare by Another Name PDF Author: Margo Anderson
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611871786
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 667

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Book Description
The debate over the true author of the Shakespeare canon has raged for centuries. Astonishingly little evidence supports the traditional belief that Will Shakespeare, the actor and businessman from Stratford-upon-Avon, was the author. Legendary figures such as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Sigmund Freud have all expressed grave doubts that an uneducated man who apparently owned no books and never left England wrote plays and poems that consistently reflect a learned and well-traveled insider's perspective on royal courts and the ancient feudal nobility. Recent scholarship has turned to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford-an Elizabethan court playwright known to have written in secret and who had ample means, motive and opportunity to in fact have assumed the "Shakespeare" disguise. "Shakespeare" by Another Name is the literary biography of Edward de Vere as "Shakespeare." This groundbreaking book tells the story of de Vere's action-packed life-as Renaissance man, spendthrift, courtier, wit, student, scoundrel, patron, military adventurer, and, above all, prolific ghostwriter-finding in it the background material for all of The Bard's works. Biographer Mark Anderson incorporates a wealth of new evidence, including de Vere's personal copy of the Bible (in which de Vere underlines scores of passages that are also prominent Shakespearean biblical references).

Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Who Wrote Shakespeare? PDF Author: James Shapiro
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451668384
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
This ebook is an excerpt from Contested Will by James Shapiro, and originally appeared as the last section titled "Shakespeare." In this chapter, Shapiro succintly and eloquently makes the case for why no one else but Shakespeare could have written Shakespeare's plays.

Sweet Swan of Avon

Sweet Swan of Avon PDF Author: Robin Williams
Publisher: Peachpit Press
ISBN: 0132797771
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
It is long overdue that someone took a closer look at the brilliant Mary Sidney. I have a suspicion that Mary Sidney’s life, and especially her dedication to the English language after her brother’s death, may throw important light on the mysterious authorship of the Shakespeare plays and poems. —Mark Rylance Actor; Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 1996–2006; Chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust For more than two hundred years, a growing number of researchers have questioned whether the man named William Shakespeare actually wrote the works attributed to him. There is no paper trail for William Shakespeare—no record that he was ever paid for writing, nothing in his handwriting but a few signatures on legal documents, no evidence of his presence in the royal court except as an actor in his later years, no confirmation of his involvement in the literary circles of the time. With so little information about this man—and even less evidence connecting him to the plays and sonnets—what can and what can’t we assume about the author of the greatest works of the English language? For the first time, Robin P. Williams presents an in-depth inquiry into the possibility that Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke, wrote the works attributed to the man named William Shakespeare. As well educated as Queen Elizabeth I, this woman was at the forefront of the literary movement in England, yet not allowed to write for the public stage. But that’s just the beginning . . . The first question I am asked by curious freshmen in my Shakespeare course is always, “Who wrote these plays anyway?” Now, because of Robin Williams’ rigorous scholarship and artful sleuthing, Mary Sidney Herbert will forever have to be mentioned as a possible author of the Shakespeare canon. Sweet Swan of Avon doesn’t pretend to put the matter to rest, but simply shows how completely reasonable the authorship controversy is, and how the idea of a female playwright surprisingly answers more Shakespearean conundrums than it creates... —Cynthia Lee Katona Professor of Shakespeare and Women’s Studies, Ohlone College; Author of Book Savvy

Who Wrote Shakespeare's Sonnets?

Who Wrote Shakespeare's Sonnets? PDF Author: Kenneth Farnol
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781973394105
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
This long overdue investigation carefully questions the authorship of many of 'Shakespeare's' Sonnets. The Sonnets have to be seen as a collection of individual true-life accounts by different male and female writers to be properly understood. This is the key to the integrity of these literary masterpieces. When read in this light: a clear picture soon emerges. The simple logic of these findings certainly demands further academic and non-academic attention. Some of the more satirical sonnets were indeed by Shakespeare but most were probably by 'Rival Poet' members of the aristocratic Sidney family. Many were private and confidential and patently never approved for publication. This is an extremely important point. Sonnets are not about theatre they are about real life. Several sonnets show clearly feminine style and content. The natural beauty of those by the unmistakable Mary Sidney/Herbert, Lady Pembroke; Nos.1-17, at least, shines out from the best of them. Further sonnets by her son William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke and her niece Mary Sidney/Wroth are of considerable historical and romantic interest. The evidence is overwhelming. However, we must seriously challenge the overbearing weight of centuries of sexism, false premises and half-truths surrounding the Sonnets. Prevailing pseudo-homosexual 'Fair Youth' myths, for example, are deemed dubious, distracting and unconvincing. Shakespeare was evidently not comfortable with the sonnet format but the glory, authorship and integrity of his Plays remains unsurpassed. When reading the Sonnets we find further real-life male/female stories of adolescent infatuation, ambition, and scandal in the shadow of the early 17th C. Royal Court. Just read the Sonnets in this book and then judge for yourself!

Shakespeare's Dark Lady

Shakespeare's Dark Lady PDF Author: John Hudson
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445621665
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Amelia Bassano Lanier is proved to be a strong candidate for authorship of Shakespeare's plays: Hudson looks at the fascinating life of this woman, believed by many to be the dark lady of the sonnets, and presents the case that she may have written Shakespeare's plays.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars

William Shakespeare's Star Wars PDF Author: Ian Doescher
Publisher: Quirk Books
ISBN: 1594746559
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
The New York Times Best Seller Experience the Star Wars saga reimagined as an Elizabethan drama penned by William Shakespeare himself, complete with authentic meter and verse, and theatrical monologues and dialogue by everyone from Darth Vader to R2D2. Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Authentic meter, stage directions, reimagined movie scenes and dialogue, and hidden Easter eggs throughout will entertain and impress fans of Star Wars and Shakespeare alike. Every scene and character from the film appears in the play, along with twenty woodcut-style illustrations that depict an Elizabethan version of the Star Wars galaxy. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

Is Shakespeare Dead?

Is Shakespeare Dead? PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1613100418
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
ÊIs Shakespeare Dead? is a short, semi-autobiographical work by American humorist Mark Twain. It explores the controversy over the authorship of the Shakespearean literary canon via satire, anecdote, and extensive quotation of contemporary authors on the subject. Ê The original publication spans only 150 pages, and the formatting leaves roughly half of each page blank. The spine is thread bound. It was published in April 1909 by Harper & Brothers, twelve months before Mark Twain's death. Ê The book attracted controversy for incorporating a chapter from The Shakespeare Problem Restated by George Greenwood without permission or proper credit, an oversight Twain blamed on the accidental omission of a footnote by the printer. Ê The book has been described as "one of his least well received and most misunderstood works". Although she admits that Twain appears to have been sincere in his beliefs concerning Shakespeare, Karen Lystra argues that the essay reveals satirical intentions that went beyond the ShakespeareÑBacon controversy of the time. Ê Though it is commonly assumed to be nothing more than a stale and embarrassing rehash of the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy, Twain was up to something more than flimsy literary criticism. He was using the debate over Shakespeare's real identity to satirize prejudice, intolerance, and self-importanceÑin himself as well as others.... But after his passionate diatribe against the "Stratfordolators" and his vigorous support of the Baconians, he cheerfully admits that both sides are built on inference. Leaving no doubt about his satirical intent, Twain then gleefully subverts his entire argument. After seeming to be a serious, even angry, combatant, he denies that he intended to convince anyone that Shakespeare was not the real author of his works. "It would grieve me to know that any one could think so injuriously of me, so uncomplimentarily, so unadmiringly of me," he writes mockingly. "Would I be so soft as that, after having known the human race familiarly for nearly seventy-four years?" We get our beliefs at second hand, he explains, "we reason none of them out for ourselves. It is the way we are made." Twain has set a trapÑan elaborate joke at the expense of what he scornfully refers to as the "Reasoning Race." He is satirizing the need to win an argument when it is virtually impossible to convince anyone to change sides in almost any debate. His excessive rhetoric of attack is obviously absurdÑcalling the other side "thugs," for exampleÑyet it has been taken at face value.

The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion

The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion PDF Author: Gary Taylor
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192517600
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 776

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Book Description
This companion volume to The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works concentrates on the issues of canon and chronology—currently the most active and controversial debates in the field of Shakespeare editing. It presents in full the evidence behind the choices made in The Complete Works about which works Shakespeare wrote, in whole or part. A major new contribution to attribution studies, the Authorship Companion illuminates the work and methodology underpinning the groundbreaking New Oxford Shakespeare, and casts new light on the professional working practices, and creative endeavours, of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. We now know that Shakespeare collaborated with his literary and dramatic contemporaries, and that others adapted his works before they reached printed publication. The Authorship Companion's essays explore and explain these processes, laying out everything we currently know about the works' authorship. 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. Taking this process further with meticulous, fresh scholarship, essays in the Authorship Companion show why we must now add new plays to the accepted Shakespeare canon and reattribute certain parts of familiar Shakespeare plays to other writers. The technical arguments for these decisions about Shakespeare's creativity are carefully laid out in language that anyone interested in the topic can understand. The latest methods for authorship attribution are explained in simple but accurate terms and all the linguistic data on which the conclusions are based is provided. The New Oxford Shakespeare consists of four interconnected publications: the Modern Critical Edition (with modern spelling), the Critical Reference Edition (with original spelling), a companion volume on Authorship, and an online version integrating all of this material on OUP's high-powered scholarly editions platform. Together, they provide the perfect resource for the future of Shakespeare studies.