Friday, March 11, 2016

Shakey

I confess to not having read the book this author is accepting the award for. Not yet, at least. I may have to now.

See, that's one of my pet peeves too. Since Shakespeare wasn't from the nobility - although neither was he a peasant - there are always elaborate theories that he couldn't have written the plays. Or maybe the sonnets either. I've read insistences that he was probably illiterate. Some believe this with the same vehemence others insist Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

Here's the other thing. Most of the alternate candidates have never shown themselves capable of that level of poetry. Francis Bacon at least left a paper trail, but mostly as an essayist. He doesn't show the impressionistic touch needed for, say, Macbeth. Brevity wasn't a big part of his wit.

And have you ever read anything by Edward de Vere? Probably not because, um, he wasn't a writer. That seems a little more important than knowing where the Lord Exchequer's guest room is.

2 comments:

susan said...

We never came across the movie 'Anonymous' but now that I understand its premise and plot I don't plan on trying to find it either. Never mind the Wm Shakespeare really being Edward deVere aspect, I also have serious difficulties with the idea that Elizabeth I was that promiscuous.

Ah well, I did happen to find a fascinating and well researched web page that goes far in proving Shakespeare was indeed the author of his plays. It makes for some interesting reading if you have the inclination (and haven't read it yourself).

I loved Greer Gilman's comment that One must be a prince to write Hamlet, a vampire to write Dracula —

Ben said...

It does seem unlikely that Elizabeth I would be promiscuous like that. Her claim to independence, which was the reason she wielded power, would have been kaput if someone had managed to impregnate her.

That link makes a pretty good case about Shakespeare being Shakespeare. I've read elsewhere that some of the plays contain wonky glove-making trivia, which was of course his father's profession.

That is a great quote. Ah, the imagination.