The Shakespeare Controversy

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.

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.

Warren Hope and Kim R. Holston
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 260
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3917-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

Introduction      3

PART I

1. A Founding Mother: Delia Bacon      7

2. Shakespeare on the Mississippi: Whitman, O’Connor, and Twain      22

3. The Great Cryptogrammatist: Ignatius Donnelly      34

4. The Birthplace: Joseph Skipsey and Henry James      46

5. An Agnostic and Two Rebels: Greenwood, Samuel Butler, and Frank Harris      53

6. Many Candidates: Marlowe, Rutland, Derby, and So On      64

7. “Shakespeare” Identified: J. Thomas Looney      69

8. Professionals, Amateurs, and the Question of Authority      88

9. The Growing Oxfordian Challenge      103

10. The Stratfordian Response      112

11. The Rest Is Scholarship      122

Chapter Notes      135

PART II

Chronological Annotated Bibliography      141

Appendices      229

Associations and Websites      229

Libraries      230

Index      235

“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?