The program committee of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship (SOF) has formulated guidelines for paper submissions for the 2016 annual conference at the Boston Marriott in Newton, MA. The goal of these guidelines is to encourage the submission of papers that address specific, current challenges in the Shakespeare authorship debate. Proposals that address topics that are listed below will be given preference:
- Legitimization of the Shakespeare Authorship Question in academia, in secondary education, and with the media.
- Deficiencies in the traditional attribution of authorship with a focus on the abundance of erudition and rare sources manifest in the Shakespeare canon (Shakespeare’s familiarity with Italy; his Latin, Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish languages; his knowledge of music, law, history, medicine, military and nautical terms, etc.).
- Revelations of Oxford’s life (or another candidate) that support his authorship of the Shakespeare canon, including new documentary discoveries, new interpretation of documents or literary works that affect authorship, Shakespeare characters that relate to Oxford’s biography (e.g., William Cecil/Polonius in Hamlet), new facts on Oxford’s travel, education, books, and connections, or new dating of a play or poem.
- Historical information relevant to the SAQ and/or people of the era with literary, theatrical, political or social relevance to the Shakespeare canon, Oxford, or Shakspere of Stratford (e.g., Jonson, Southampton, Essex).
Presentations customarily should be designed to be delivered in 45 minutes, including time for questions and answers. SOF conference presenters are expected to register for the annual conference and participate actively in the proceedings. Proposals submitted by members of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, De Vere Society, or other Shakespeare-related educational institutions will be given special consideration in selecting conference papers.
We look forward very much to receiving your proposals for this year’s Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship conference. Proposals should be 100-300 words in length and sent by email to any of the following program committee members. Submission deadline for proposals is August 1, 2016.
Bonner Cutting – jandbcutting@comcast.net
John Hamill – hamillx@pacbell.net
Don Rubin – drubin@yorku.ca
Earl Showerman – earlees@charter.net
[posted February 13, 2016]
