[open-literature] More Volunteers, Garden Party Aftermath, The Oxfordian Authorship Interpretation

[Rufus Pollock]

On 15 June 2010 11:17, Open Shakespeare <open-shakespeare at okfn.org> wrote:
> Good Afternoon,
>
> ...And welcome to all the new volunteers that I've added to this list.
> That said, the list still remains very small, so do not hesitate to
> post any questions/banter/news here. Talking of volunteers, how was
> the Garden Party? I'm sorry I couldn't attend, but very eager to know
> who did, and whether there are any strawberries left.

We had several new attendees interested in getting involved. I believe
Jack is going to be emailing them soon and perhaps can also add them
to the volunteers roster.

> I write also regarding a volunteer with whom I've been in touch for a
> while, and from whom I have just received an interesting introduction
> to The Phoenix and the Turtle, which raises questions about the
> identity of Shakespeare. Alan Tarcia, the contributor, supports the
> Oxfordian Authorship Theory, i.e. that the plays said to be by
> 'Shakespeare', were in fact written by Edward de Vere who used
> Shakespeare as a cover (more details on wikipedia). Obviously, this
> gives a very unorthodox reading of the poem, and raises the question
> of just what we want our introductions to be like.
>
> My suggestion is that we ask Alan to modify his introduction to take
> into account both theories of authorship in a baanced manner, as well
> as adding less controversial material such as different critical
> perspectives on the poem (i.e. contextualise the poem's imagery in
> respect to other works of the period, and of antiquity). Further to
> this, we then invite Alan to write a longer account of the Oxfordian
> Authorship Theory to be published on the blog, again taking in both
> sides of the argument. What do people think of this solution? My
> concern is that I'm being a bit too dictatorial, and maybe we should
> instead just let Alan write what he likes...

I think both your suggestions here are good and would support
proceeding in this manner :)

Rufus

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