The Shakespeare Controversy: An Analysis of the Authorship Theories, 2d ed.

by Warren Hope, Kim Holston

Overview

Theories stating that plays attributed to Shakespeare were in fact written by other authors have existed for more than 200 years; some theories have been ridiculed and reviled while some have gained growing popular and scholarly support. The history of the Shakespeare controversy is presented in this revised edition of the 1992 work, with much new information and three additional chapters. Part I documents and critically assesses the most important theories on the authorship question. Part II is an annotated bibliography, arranged chronologically, of the many works that deal with the controversy from its vague beginnings to the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786439171
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	07/15/2009
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Warren Hope taught in community colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area as an adjunct instructor in English following a career in publishing and public relations. He is the author of books of poems and critical studies of a number of authors including Philip Larkin and George Orwell. Kim R. Holston is a staff librarian in the multimedia department of Chester County Library, Exton, Pennsylvania where he assists the public seeking recommendations on motion pictures, audiobooks, eBooks, and music CDs. He has written or cowritten several books for McFarland.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Preface     
Introduction     

PART
1. A Founding Mother: Delia Bacon     
2. Shakespeare on the Mississippi: Whitman, O’Connor, and Twain     
3. The Great Cryptogrammatist: Ignatius Donnelly     
4. The Birthplace: Joseph Skipsey and Henry James     
5. An Agnostic and Two Rebels: Greenwood, Samuel Butler, and Frank Harris     
6. Many Candidates: Marlowe, Rutland, Derby, and So On     
7. “Shakespeare” Identified: J. Thomas Looney     
8. Professionals, Amateurs, and the Question of Authority     
9. The Growing Oxfordian Challenge     
10. The Stratfordian Response     
11. The Rest Is Scholarship     
Chapter Notes     

PART
Chronological Annotated Bibliography     
Appendices     
Associations and Websites     
Libraries     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

recommended”—Choice; “highly recommended”—Popular Culture in Libraries; “well-written and well-researched, this book is not only an entertaining, good read but also a valuable reference work...a worthy, if quite selective, survey of an immense subject”—Shakespeare Oxford Society; “even before being updated, was an invaluable primer on the history of the Shakespearean question. The present update is a must read”—Brief Chronicles; “detailed”—Reference & Research Book News; “helpful and reliable”—James Shapiro, author of Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

From the Publisher

well-written and well-researched, this book is not only an entertaining, good read but also a valuable reference work...a worthy, if quite selective, survey of an immense subject

Shakespeare Oxford Society

highly recommended

Popular Culture in Libraries

recommended

Choice