Shakespeare Studies
An interdisciplinary guide to researching Shakespeare's works, their history, their performance and their cultural significance.
Who Wrote the Plays and Poems of "Shake-Speare"?
Authorship research examines who wrote the plays and poems of Shakespeare; whether the Author collaborated with others, if other hands augmented the plays after the Author's death, and who the Author actually was. For at least 150 years there has been doubt, skepticism and controversy as to who wrote the plays and poems; traditionally they have been attributed to William Shakspere of Stratford-Upon-Avon, but numerous books have been written which refute this claim, and/or argue for the authorship of others, such as Edward de Vere, Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe. This page is intended to help students and researchers arrive at their own conclusions.
Finding Books
Books in the Collection
Contested Will by Call Number: PR 2937 S47 2010ISBN: 9781416541622Publication Date: 2010-04-06An overview of the history of the Authorship Question.
The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion by Call Number: PR 2937 N49 2017ISBN: 9780199591169Publication Date: 2017-03-26This 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 Worksabout which works Shakespeare wrote, in whole or part.
Shakespeare Beyond Doubt by Call Number: PR 2937 S445 2013ISBN: 9781107603288Publication Date: 2013-04-18The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust seeks to maks the case for William Shakespeare of Stratford and to debunk the skeptics.- Shakespeare Beyond Doubt? Exposing an Industry in Denial byCall Number: PR 2937S52S53 2013ISBN: 9781625500342Publication Date: 2013The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition seeks to debunk the commonly-accepted biography of William Shakespeare of Stratford, as a statement of Reasonable Doubt.
The Shakespeare Guide to Italy by ISBN: 9780062074263Publication Date: 2011-11-08Richard Paul Roe spent more than twenty years traveling the length and breadth of Italy on a literary quest of unparalleled significance. The Shakespeare Guide to Italy is a unique, compelling, and deeply provocative journey that will forever change our understanding of how to read the Bard . . . and irrevocably alter our vision of who William Shakespeare really was.- Shakespeare Identified byCall Number: PR 2947 O9L6 1975 (2 vols)ISBN: 0804618771Publication Date: 1975-01-01The book in which Edward de Vere was first proposed as the author behind the name "Shake-Speare."
An Index to Oxfordian Publications by Call Number: PR 2947 O9I53 2017ISBN: 9780998928920Publication Date: 2017-10-01Index to works exploring the theory that Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford was Shakespeare published since 1920.
Organizations
- Oberon Shakespeare Studies GroupA Michigan group dedicated to the study of the works of William Shakespeare with particular interest in the authorship question
- The De Vere SocietyThe De Vere Society, founded 1986, supports and encourages investigation and conversation regarding the case for Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as Shakespeare, to reach a better, deeper understanding of the works and world that supported their creation.
Authorship Journals
- Brief Chronicles: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Authorship StudiesA peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary academic journal examining the Shakespeare authorship question and topics in early modern authorship studies. Published by the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship from 2009 through 2016.
- The Ever Reader:The Online Magazine of the Shakespeare-Oxford SocietyThe Ever Reader was published from September 1995 through Winter/Spring 2000, and includes a total of 66 articles about the Shakespeare authorship debate, related research, and news. It features a sampling of news, articles and essays drawn from issues of the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, materials published by the Society or its predecessors, and material written exclusively for first publication online.
- The Oxfordian"The Oxfordian is a professional publication that features papers providing in-depth coverage of issues of importance to Shakespeare scholars. The Oxfordian welcomes submission of learned essays on three interrelated topics: Important literary works of the Early Modern Period in English literature; Shakespeare studies; Shakespeare authorship issues."
Links
- 60 Minutes With ShakespeareThe Shakespeare Birthplace Trust reponds to the controversy.
- The Declaration of Reasonable DoubtThe Shakespeare Birthplace Trust sets out the arguments against the tradition.
- The Oxford Authorship SiteThe Documents page of this website includes transcripts and translations of hundreds of documents related to [the Earl of] Oxford's life and the life of his front man, the actor William Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon.
- Oxfraud; The Prima Facie Case for ShakespeareSite seeks to debunk skepticism about the author, and argues for the Shakespeare of tradition.
- politicworm: Shakespeare Authorship"The questions of authorship and related matters that haunt the history of the Elizabethan era all derive from the concerted effort made by Elizabethan poets, their publishers and their patrons, to sidestep the constraints placed on the literary arts by the paranoias of a still insecure government of Reformation ideologues."
- Rebuttal to "60 Minutes With ShakespeareThe Shakespeare Authorship Coalition answers the SBT questions posed in their "60 Minutes" piece.
Mark Twain's "Is Shakespeare Dead?"
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