[lbo-talk] Shakespeare, Coke, Bacon, Egerton

jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Wed Oct 12 09:00:01 PDT 2005



> On Wed, 12 Oct 2005, jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>
> > Not something I claim much knowledge of but if the evidence is so
> > overwhelming how to explain the abundance of scholarly work questioning
> > authorship?
>
> The answer from scholars is universally that it's not scholarly work -- it's
> work that purports to be scholarly:
>
> http://www.the-tls.co.uk/this_week/story.aspx?story_id=2111727
>
> It's basically a form of crackpotism. Although visionaries and crackpots
> can be fun, and can be intelligent, and often unearth fascinating things in
> their journeys, the question of where it comes from is basically a question
> of where such people come in general.
>
> Michael

While I won't try to make an argument either way (I don't know enough on the subject to fill a postage stamp) but are you telling me that both British Shakespeare scholar and former university lecturer Brenda James and university historian William Rubinstein are crackpots? Why so many crackpots questioning Shakespeare and not Desiderius Erasmus or Christopher Marlowe?

I guess what I'm saying is that it seems unlikely as much ink would be spilled concerning the authorship of Shakespears plays if there were hard evidence either way. No one seriously questions Thomas Paines work. Dismissing all who question this as crackpots may be accurate but that seems like an unsatisfying too breezy dismissal. Crackpots write about all sorts of things like UFO's, and Edgar Cayce but most of that remains at the margins. The Shakespeare question garners real attention and is treated differently. I suspect it is treated differently than Edgar Cayce research for a reason but I am not in a position to speak knowledgeably on the subject.

John Thornton



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