Shakespeare and His Authors Critical Perspectives on the Authorship Question [Hardcover]

The Shakespeare Authorship question - the question of who wrote Shakespeare's plays and who the man we know as Shakespeare was - is a subject which fascinates millions of people the world over and can be seen as a major cultural phenomenon. However, much discussion of the question exists on the very margins of academia, deemed by most Shakespearean academics as unimportant or, indeed, of interest only to conspiracy theorists. Yet, many academics find the Authorship question interesting and worthy of analysis in theoretical and philosophical terms.
This collection brings together leading literary and cultural critics to explore the Authorship question as a social, cultural and even theological phenomenon and consider it in all its rich diversity and significance.
The Shakespeare Authorship question - the question of who wrote Shakespeare's plays and who the man we know as Shakespeare was - is a subject which fascinates millions of people the world over and can be seen as a major cultural phenomenon. However, much discussion of the question exists on the very margins of academia, deemed by most Shakespearean academics as unimportant or, indeed, of interest only to conspiracy theorists. Yet, many academics find the Authorship question interesting and worthy of analysis in theoretical and philosophical terms.
This collection brings together leading literary and cultural critics to explore the Authorship question as a social, cultural and even theological phenomenon and consider it in all its rich diversity and significance.

AcknowledgementsNotes on Contributors Introduction: The life of the author, William Leahy (Brunel University, UK) 1. On not knowing Shakespeare (and on Shakespeare not knowing): Romanticism, the authorship question, and English Literature, Andrew Bennett (University of Bristol, UK) 2. Malfolio: foul papers on the Shakespeare authorship question, Willy Maley (University of Glasgow, UK) 3. The authorship question: an historian's pelƒ"