If William Shakespeare Wrote the Bard's Works...
Who Wrote the Shakespeare Apocrypha?
Welcome to the website for The Apocryphal William Shakespeare: Book One of A 'Third Way' Shakespeare Authorship Scenario, a groundbreaking book which introduces a new Shakespeare authorship theory based on direct title page evidence.
During his lifetime and for many years afterwards, William Shakespeare was credited with writing not only the Bard’s canonical works, but also a series of ‘apocryphal’ Shakespeare plays. Stylistic threads linking these lesser works suggest they shared a common author or co-author who wrote in a coarse, breezy style, and created very funny clown scenes. He was also prone to pilfering lines from other dramatists, consistent with Robert Greene’s 1592 attack on William Shakespeare as an “upstart crow.” The anomalous existence of two bodies of work exhibiting distinct poetic voices printed under one man’s name suggests a fascinating possibility. Could William Shakespeare have written the apocryphal plays while serving as a front man for the ‘poet in purple robes,’ a hidden court poet who was much admired by a literary coterie in the 1590s? And could the ‘poet in purple robes’ have been the great poet and statesman Thomas Sackville (1536—1608), a previously overlooked authorship candidate who is an excellent fit to the Shakespearean glass slipper? Both of these scenarios are well supported by literary and historical records, many of which have not been previously considered in the context of the Shakespeare authorship debate.
During his lifetime and for many years afterwards, William Shakespeare was credited with writing not only the Bard’s canonical works, but also a series of ‘apocryphal’ Shakespeare plays. Stylistic threads linking these lesser works suggest they shared a common author or co-author who wrote in a coarse, breezy style, and created very funny clown scenes. He was also prone to pilfering lines from other dramatists, consistent with Robert Greene’s 1592 attack on William Shakespeare as an “upstart crow.” The anomalous existence of two bodies of work exhibiting distinct poetic voices printed under one man’s name suggests a fascinating possibility. Could William Shakespeare have written the apocryphal plays while serving as a front man for the ‘poet in purple robes,’ a hidden court poet who was much admired by a literary coterie in the 1590s? And could the ‘poet in purple robes’ have been the great poet and statesman Thomas Sackville (1536—1608), a previously overlooked authorship candidate who is an excellent fit to the Shakespearean glass slipper? Both of these scenarios are well supported by literary and historical records, many of which have not been previously considered in the context of the Shakespeare authorship debate.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Apocryphal-William-Shakespeare-Authorship-Scenario/dp/1457507218/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321581504&sr=1-2.
Barnes and Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-apocryphal-william-shakespeare-sabrina-feldman/1107420526?ean=9781457507212&itm=1&usri=apocryphal+william+shakespeare.
The cover photo is from a version of Hamlet performed at a prisoner of war camp in Tittmoning, Bavaria during World War II, organized by the British actor Michael Goodliffe. The photograph, taken by a local resident, Dr. Jung, shows Goodliffe as Hamlet, and his fellow prisoner Brian Shaw, well known for his ‘Explosives Lecture,’ as the ghost. Costumes and make-up were provided by the Munich Opera House. The photo can be found at http://www.mgoodliffe.co.uk, and is included with the kind permission of Michael Goodliffe’s son, Jonathan Goodliffe.
The image which heads this blog is taken from John Faed's painting Shakespeare and His Friends at the Mermaid Tavern (1851). For more information, see http://shakespeare.emory.edu/illustrated_showimage.cfm?imageid=65.
Barnes and Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-apocryphal-william-shakespeare-sabrina-feldman/1107420526?ean=9781457507212&itm=1&usri=apocryphal+william+shakespeare.
The cover photo is from a version of Hamlet performed at a prisoner of war camp in Tittmoning, Bavaria during World War II, organized by the British actor Michael Goodliffe. The photograph, taken by a local resident, Dr. Jung, shows Goodliffe as Hamlet, and his fellow prisoner Brian Shaw, well known for his ‘Explosives Lecture,’ as the ghost. Costumes and make-up were provided by the Munich Opera House. The photo can be found at http://www.mgoodliffe.co.uk, and is included with the kind permission of Michael Goodliffe’s son, Jonathan Goodliffe.
The image which heads this blog is taken from John Faed's painting Shakespeare and His Friends at the Mermaid Tavern (1851). For more information, see http://shakespeare.emory.edu/illustrated_showimage.cfm?imageid=65.