Nevertheless, Schoenbaum's mastery of the documents of Shakespeare's life and times made him assume that only documentary evidence counted. Most of the modern work on collaborative authorship had not been done at the time Schoenbaum made his judgements on internal as opposed to external evidence, but the convergence of findings by scholars like Mac Jackson, Gary Taylor (editor of the Oxford Shakespeare Complete Works, general editor of the Oxford Middleton) and John Jowett (associate editor of the Oxford Shakespeare and the Oxford Middleton, and general editor of the Arden Early Modern Drama series) puts beyond doubt the division of scenes in all the cases I cited. Modern databases allow possible authors--ALL the works of ALL the playwrights writing at the time--to be analyzed statistically. If Schoenbaum had known the evidence, even if only through Vickers's assessment, he would have changed his mind.

On 13/10/2006, at 10:59 AM, NABOKV-L wrote:

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 Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
Contact the Editors
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.