Shakespeare Beyond Doubt: Evidence, Argument, Controversy - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1107603285 ISBN 13: 9781107603288

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare? The authorship question has been much treated in works of fiction, film and television, provoking interest all over the world. Sceptics have proposed many candidates as the author of Shakespeare's works, including Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and Edward De Vere, the seventeenth Earl of Oxford. But why and how did the authorship question arise and what does surviving evidence offer in answer to it? This authoritative, accessible and frequently entertaining book sets the debate in its historical context and provides an account of its main protagonists and their theories. Presenting the authorship of Shakespeare's works in relation to historiography, psychology and literary theory, twenty-three distinguished scholars reposition and develop the discussion. The book explores the issues in the light of biographical, textual and bibliographical evidence to bring fresh perspectives to an intriguing cultural phenomenon.

About this title

Product Description:

Paul Edmondson & Stanley Wells Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare? The authorship question has been much treated in works of fiction, film and television. This engaging, accessible and entertaining book sets the debate in context and provides a wide range of discussions of all significant aspects of this hotly debated topic. Publisher: Cambridge University Press Paperback ISBN 9781107603288

Review:

'Until now no book has provided the comprehensive evidence necessary to satisfy those 'Reasonable Doubters'.' James Shapiro, Columbia University, and author of Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

'The Shakespeare debate has never been hotter.' London Evening Standard

'This book helpfully pulls together irrefutable evidence that Shakespeare really was Shakespeare.' New Statesman

'Well conceived and energetic.' The Times Literary Supplement

'... salutary ...' Standpoint

'Shakespeare Beyond Doubt shows, once more, that the fickle authorship controversy still exists not because there is no evidence that Shakespeare was Shakespeare but because anti-Shakespeareans refuse to acknowledge it and prefer the creative route of constructing an imaginary and speculative truth. History does not work like that. It is not a Hollywood movie.' The Huffington Post

'Thorough, rigorous, scholarly, and a lot of fun.' History Today

'The range of evidence, from dialect, through manuscript analysis, to stagecraft, makes it a wonderfully rounded introduction to the period, as well as to the playwright.' Judith Flanders, The Times Literary Supplement

'This excellent collection, edited by Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, assumes that it is possible to engage with the doubters in an honest, honourable, and constructive dialogue.' Quarto

'... a most useful volume ...' The New Criterion

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1107603285
• ISBN 13: 9781107603288
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 298
• Editor: Edmondson Paul