SOS Public Relations Chairperson Matthew Cossolotto, submitted the following report on publication of The Oxfordian:
The Shakespeare Oxford Society recently mailed this year’s The Oxfordian (Volume 11) — the first volume edited by recently appointed editor Michael Egan (PhD), an award-winning Shakespeare scholar who is open-minded on the Shakespeare authorship question.
Commenting on his appointment, Professor Egan stated: “I believe the Shakespeare authorship mystery is a legitimate and important area for investigation and that there are enough doubts or unexplored areas to continue serious academic research.”
New York-based Shakespeare Oxford Society is an educational organization dedicated to exploring the Shakespeare authorship question and researching the evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) is the true author of the poems and plays of William Shakespeare.
John Hamill, recently elected president of the Shakespeare Oxford Society, said:
We’re delighted that a Shakespeare scholar of Professor Egan’s stature agreed to join us as the editor of our flagship annual publication. We invite other Shakespeare scholars and Bard lovers worldwide to take a look at this year’s edition of The Oxfordian and to approach the authorship issue with an open mind. It’s a fascinating topic that deserves the serious attention of scholars and the media.
The BBC recently published a story (November 27, 2009) about the case for Edward de Vere as the real Shakespeare. See BBC Oxford: Edward de Vere: The Bard or not the Bard by Dave Gilyeat.
In this BBC report, Dr. Egan said:
One of the most disturbing aspects of the whole debate is the way the anti-Stratfordians are silenced. There isn’t any real attempt to confront the arguments. There’s just a general mocking and ridiculing strategy — what I call arguing by adjective… ‘ridiculous, absurd’ and so on… whereas in fact there’s some very suggestive and interesting pieces of information that need to be factored in there. It’s a little like the Copernican theory of the universe. What seems obvious at first turns out to be not so when you try to reconcile the obvious with the anomalies and the anomalies are great.
The 2009 edition of The Oxfordian features an Open Forum section with articles supporting five different authorship candidates: David Kathman on William of Stratford-upon-Avon; Peter Farey on Christopher Marlowe; John Hudson on Amelia Bassano Lanier; John Raithel on William Stanley, and Ramon Jimenez on Edward de Vere, the seventeenth Earl of Oxford.
The Oxfordian, Vol. 11, also includes:
· Stephanie Hopkins Hughes: An Oxfordian Response;
· Robin Fox: Shakespeare, Oxford and the Grammar School Question;
· Earl Showerman: Timon of Athens: Shakespeare’s Sophoclean;
· Frank Davis: Greene’s Groatsworth of Witte: Shakespeare’s Biography?
· Michael Egan: Slurs, Nasal Rhymes and Amputations: A Reply to MacDonald P. Jackson;
· John Shahan and Richard Whalen: Auditing the Stylometricians: Elliott, Valenza and the Claremont Shakespeare Authorship Clinic.
Professor Egan said:
If the traditional ‘Shakespeare’ did not write the plays ascribed to him, who did? On this matter I am not settled. I have a lot of sympathy for the Oxfordian response, but frankly my mind remains open. I believe all scholars worthy of the name should allow the research to take us wherever it leads, and that’s exactly how I intend to operate as editor of The Oxfordian.
Michael Egan, PhD
Michael Egan is an internationally known writer, consultant and educator with experience working in England, South Africa, and the US. Egan earned his BA from Witwatersrand University, and his MA and PhD from Cambridge. He has served as Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Lecturer in English, Lancaster University, UK. and as Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific University, and South London University. He is a prize-winning author of ten books and over 80 professional articles.
The Oxfordian availability:
Shakespeare Oxford Society members receive a copy of The Oxfordian as a benefit of membership. Join online at: http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?Merchant=shakespeareoxfordsociety&DeptID=27020
Non-members of the Shakespeare Oxford Society may order a copy of the latest issue by sending a request for The Oxfordian/11 (2009) The Annual Journal of the Shakespeare Oxford Society to: Shakespeare Oxford Society, P.O. Box 808, Yorktown Heights, NY, 10598-0808. Enclose a check for a total of $24.95. ($20 plus $4.95 shipping via USPS Priority Mail)
Back issues of SOS publications may be ordered online at: http://www.goestores.com/catalog.aspx?StoreName=shakespeareoxfordsociety&DeptID=49368
