Subject
Shakespearean joint authorship
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As always, there is little to add to what Brian remarks, but since
Steve kindly invites, a few thoughts.
My knowledge is a bit older -- much gained from my days as graduate
assistant to Samuel Schoenbaum, who was to Shakespeare biography what
Brian is to Nabokov!
Schoenbaum also wrote extensively on Elizabethan dramatic authorship.
From him, I learned some skepticism about the kind of pinpoint division
of plays scene-by-scene or line-by-line which still persists. I tell
my undergraduate students that about the only thing of which they can
be sure in this area is this: not everything in your "Complete Works
of Shakespeare" is actually by Shakespeare, and not everything by
Shakespeare is in your "Complete Works." Certainly for over a half
century (W.W.Greg, P. Williams, J.C.Maxwell, etc.), critics and editors
of "Timon" have seen evidence of multiple authorship.
Non-Shakespeareans might also be interested in knowing that the play's
place and even inclusion in the First Folio of 1623 is also rather
vexed.
In relation to the ongoing discussion of "Pale Fire," it might be noted
that nobody has ever suggested that "Timon of Athens" was written by
Apemantus, "a churlish philosopher."
--------------------------------------
Sam
Dr. Samuel Schuman
Garrey Carruthers Distinguished Chair
in Honors
The University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM (505) 277-4396
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Steve kindly invites, a few thoughts.
My knowledge is a bit older -- much gained from my days as graduate
assistant to Samuel Schoenbaum, who was to Shakespeare biography what
Brian is to Nabokov!
Schoenbaum also wrote extensively on Elizabethan dramatic authorship.
From him, I learned some skepticism about the kind of pinpoint division
of plays scene-by-scene or line-by-line which still persists. I tell
my undergraduate students that about the only thing of which they can
be sure in this area is this: not everything in your "Complete Works
of Shakespeare" is actually by Shakespeare, and not everything by
Shakespeare is in your "Complete Works." Certainly for over a half
century (W.W.Greg, P. Williams, J.C.Maxwell, etc.), critics and editors
of "Timon" have seen evidence of multiple authorship.
Non-Shakespeareans might also be interested in knowing that the play's
place and even inclusion in the First Folio of 1623 is also rather
vexed.
In relation to the ongoing discussion of "Pale Fire," it might be noted
that nobody has ever suggested that "Timon of Athens" was written by
Apemantus, "a churlish philosopher."
--------------------------------------
Sam
Dr. Samuel Schuman
Garrey Carruthers Distinguished Chair
in Honors
The University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM (505) 277-4396
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm