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Steven Brake
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Posted: 03 February 2021 at 5:18pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Peter: The essay is good at raising questions, which is never hard to do. It's less convincing at making a positive case.

Prodromou remarks in his essay that: "Any evidence we have for the actual existence of the Stratford man as Writer (as opposed to him as Man-of-the-Theatre) always seems to be hedged with both doubts and ambiguities", but this attempt to draw a distinction between Will of Stratford and Shakespeare, the pseudonym supposedly used by another writer, simply doesn't work.

We know The King's Men acted the plays ascribed to Shakespeare in the First Folio.

We know that in the royal patent of 1603, Shakespeare's name is second in the list, alongside Burbage, Heminges and Condell.

We know that when Shakespeare (or Shakspeare) of Stratford died, he left small bequests to Burbage, Heminges and Condell.

We know that Heminges and Condell collected the plays to commemorate the memory of the man they'd known - William Shakespeare.

As I've posted above, the odds of the Burbage, Heminges, and Condell in Shakspere's will not being the same Burbage, Heminges and Condell in the patent are astronomical, and must run to millions, or perhaps even billions, to one.

It beggars belief that Stratford feigned being a writer for decades, and did so so convincingly that for years after his death, his deceived colleagues undertook the project of collecting the plays that became the First Folio.

The alternative is that there was a conscious and deliberate attempt to make it seem that Stratford was indeed the author, and it became necessary to maintain this pretence years after any parties who could have been damaged by the truth coming to light were dead. And if it is the case that Stratford was a front-man, why do alternative authorship theorists, particularly Oxfordians, make snide jibes about how illiterate he was? Their argument is surely contingent upon him having to have been, if not a literary genius, at least literate, in order to have presented a convincing facade.

I reckon this threat has pretty much worn itself out! :) Time for the mods to lock, and we all move on?
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Daniel Burke
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Posted: 03 February 2021 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

There are some well educated folks on these pages. It makes me feel pretty under-read. 

I had no idea there was such a controversy beyond some of the Marlowe and Johnson stuff. 

I rented the documentary recommended on page one of this thread, and I just wanted to say "thanks."

Definitely worth a watch, particularly for the uninitiated, like me. 
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Steven Brake
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Posted: 04 February 2021 at 1:37am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

@Daniel - for an overview of the debate, you may also like John Michell's Who Wrote Shakespeare?, which can usually be obtained fairly cheaply.


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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 04 February 2021 at 12:33pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I managed to get CONTESTED WILL by James Shapiro, and will start reading it this weekend.
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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 04 February 2021 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

As a preview of Shapiro's reasoning, witness how he handles the case in his own recounting of correspondence with Supreme Court Justice Stevens.

Shapiro article in The New Yorker

He misrepresents the Oxford case repeatedly, then proceeds to defeat his own straw man and belittle Justice Stevens to avoid any scent of acknowledgement that a reasonable person could doubt the evidence for the Stratford Man.

Some people are able to remain open minded while making their case. Shapiro is not one of them.
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Steven Brake
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Posted: 04 February 2021 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

@Mark: Shapiro's article doesn't belittle Stevens. He does admit to exasperation with him, but he also describes him as gracious, and admits to having had great affection and respect for him.

And how is Shapiro misrepresenting the Oxford case? He describes the "Prince Tudor" theory portrayed in "Anonymous", but correctly, and fairly, notes that it's an extreme form of Oxfordianism, rather than representative of the general Oxfordian position.
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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 04 February 2021 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I could understand Shapiro misrepresenting things....if it was Ben Shapiro, not James.

Really wish I could find a copy of Price's book, or Michell's.


Edited by Brian Floyd on 04 February 2021 at 2:14pm
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Steven Brake
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Posted: 04 February 2021 at 2:33pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

@Brian: Michell's book should be easy to find on Amazon, or eBay. Oddly enough, I think I got my copy from a bookshop in Stratford-Upon Avon! :)

Edited by Steven Brake on 04 February 2021 at 2:38pm
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