The 26th volume of The Oxfordian has just been published and is available via Amazon.com for $14.99: Amazon.com: The Oxfordian Vol. 26: 9798335863513: Goldstein, Gary: Books. If you are an SOF member you can access it for free online here using the 2024 publications password.
The 305 page issue offers 10 research articles, 5 book reviews and a debate regarding Willobie His Avisa between Robert Prechter Jr. and John Hamill, Alexander Waugh and Matt Hutchinson.
A highlight of the 26th volume is William Niederkorn’s discovery of a poem by the Earl of Oxford, published in 1591 under the initials E.O., in the first edition of Sir Philip Sidney’s book, Astrophel and Stella. Both the Niederkorn paper and the review of Michael Dudley’s new book, The Shakespeare Authorship Question and Philosophy, are freely available to everyone in the electronic edition, while the other contents of the journal are accessible only to subscribers with a password. Go here – The Oxfordian.
Shakespeare at Palazzo Te
by Sky Gilbert
Shakespeare mentions only one contemporary visual artist by name and that is in The Winter’s Tale: Giulio Romano. From the moment Shakespeare stepped onto the grounds of the Palazzo Te in Italy, he knew that Romano’s mannerist masterpiece would allow him to rejoice in a sensibility identical to his own, one that was the incarnation and visual corollary of what his written work would someday be.
John Lyly and the Marprelate Controversy: Innovation, Inhibition, and the 1589 Hamlet
by Karl Yambert
This essay argues for a probable date of composition of 1589 for the First Quarto (Q1) of Hamlet, which would favor Edward de Vere rather than William Shakspere as the playwright. It demonstrates that the Martin Marprelate controversy (1588–90), which began as a war of pamphlets, was precisely the sort of challenge to the established order that Elizabethans called an “innovation.” Indeed, Queen Elizabeth herself called the initial Martinist tracts an “innovation.” Further, the Marprelate affair then led to the suppression of acting troupes of both boys and men. That is, the Marprelate “innovation” resulted in what was clearly an “inhibition” imposed on stage performances, exactly as Hamlet has it.
When Were Shakespeare’s Plays Written?
Three Major Plays as Test Cases
by Matt Hutchinson
When examining the evidence for dating the plays from “first principles,” the conventional
dating system of Shakespeare’s plays is problematic—the plays were likely written considerably earlier than currently believed. This paper focuses on three of Shakespeare’s plays and argues for earlier dates for each of them: The Merchant of Venice, usually dated between 1595–98, is redated 1578–79;Hamlet moves from 1599–1601 to 1588–89; while The Tempest, often seen as Shakespeare’s “swan song” appears to be known by 1598–99 rather than the conventional date of 1610–11.
Baldassare Castiglione’s The Courtier and
Shakespeare’s Coining of Words
by Jens Münnichow
Baldassare Castiglione’s The Courtier can be seen as an “encouragement” to the literary program of Euphuism that Edward de Vere executed throughout his career. Part of this program was to strengthen the English language by diminishing foreign influences, mostly from the French, Greek and Latin. To achieve this, de Vere replaced French, Greek and Latin vocabulary with newly minted expressions that were then incorporated into the English lexicon.
Literary Rivalry: Oxford’s Response to
Sidney’s Defence of Poesie
by Kevin Gilvary
The longstanding rivalry between Sir Philip Sidney and Edward de Vere runs deeper than many scholars of early modern literature have hitherto considered: as suitors for Anne Cecil, as renowned poets, and as court rivals. Sidney was even parodied in the plays of Shakespeare as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, as Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and as the Dauphin in Henry V. Sidney’s Defence of Poesie was a work of profound literary criticism, the earliest such work in English. Sidney’s criticism clearly relates to many of Shakespeare’s plays. While Sidney’s analysis of poetry has been very influential, his complaints about the theatre have been ignored. The standard narratives, casting Sidney as the heroic figure, soldier and courtier and poet, with Oxford as the spendthrift, eccentric, inferior poet, need a far more nuanced treatment.
Syr Philip Sidney’s Comeuppance: Newman’s Own
Astrophel and Stella
by William S. Niederkorn
Astrophel and Stella by Philip Sidney was first printed in 1591, a year after publication of his other major literary work, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia. Both works were published posthumously. Prefacing the 1591 book, titled Syr P.S. His Astrophel and Stella, are a dedicatory letter signed Thomas Newman and a letter to the reader signed Thomas Nashe. They are followed by Astrophel and Stella in 107 fourteen-line sonnet stanzas. Next are 10 poems by Sidney that extend the Astrophel and Stella theme. Following Sidney’s works are 27 more sonnets by Samuel Daniel, five cantos signed “Content,” a poem titled Megliora—and finally a poem with the heading “Finis E.O.” This is a newly discovered poem by Edward de Vere, who signed off on eight poems as E.O. in The Paradise of Dainty Devices, published in 1576.
Was “Thomas Nashe” a Pen Name of the Earl of Oxford?
by Robert R. Prechter, Jr.
The name Thomas Nashe does not refer to a real writer, rather it denotes a biographical construct purporting to represent a real writer. A variety of scholars have proposed that Edward de Vere wrote under pseudonyms and allonyms. They include Arthur Brooke: Romeus and Juliet, 1562; Arthur Golding: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 1565/1567; John Lyly: Euphues novels, plays, 1578–1593; Robert Greene: novels, pamphlets, plays, 1580–1592; William Shakespeare: poems, plays; 1593–1623. Should Thomas Nashe, whose literary oeuvre was composed during 1589–1600, be added to that list? Evidence suggests that the answer is yes.
The Blinde-Worm’s Sting in Macbeth
by Connie J. Beane
Based on topical allusions in Macbeth, the author proposes the play be redated to the period 1592–97, which serves to refute the contention that Edward de Vere could not have been the author, since it places the composition of the play firmly within his lifetime. The orthodox chronology, as proposed by E.K. Chambers in 1930, places Macbeth’s composition in 1606, two years after de Vere’s death in 1604.
A New Interpretation of Francis Beaumont’s Verse Letter to
Ben Jonson
by Heidi Jannsch
The author holds that Beaumont’s verse letter to Jonson can be understood as a concerted effort by Beaumont to document the Shakespeare Authorship deception and comment on the diplomatic action taken by Edward de Vere to dissociate himself from the works in order to save the Earl of Southampton’s life.
Music and Lyrics by E.O.
by Cheryl Eagan-Donovan
The paper inquires into the significance of music as one aspect of Oxford’s development as a playwright and theater maker, and to compare his knowledge of music with the abundance of songs and musical references in the works of Shakespeare. Exploring the musical skills and knowledge possessed by the 17th Earl of Oxford strengthens the case for his authorship of the canon.
The 26th edition of The Oxfordian also reviews five books recently published by the following authors:
The Shakespeare Authorship Question and Philosophy: Knowledge, Rhetoric, Identity
by Michael Dudley
Stalking Shakespeare: A Memoir of Madness, Murder and My
Search for the Poet Beneath the Paint
by Lee Durkee
Is That True? Shakespearean Explorations
by Warren Hope
The Starre, the Moone, the Sunne
by Ron Destro
The Shakespearean Interplay with Marlowe
by Tony Hosking
Rounding out the 26th volume of TOX is a debate between Robert Prechter Jr. and John Hamill, Alexander Waugh and Matt Hutchinson. Robert Prechter’s article “Avisa: Queen Elizabeth or Penelope Rich?” published in The Oxfordian 25, strives to demonstrate that John Hamill’s argument for Penelope Rich as the wife Avisa in the anonymous 1594 pamphlet Willobie His Avisa is misplaced, and the work is a straightforward paean to the unmarried Queen Elizabeth. Hamill, Waugh and Hutchinson attempt to show that Prechter is incorrect and that Willobie is not about Queen Elizabeth but was an intended libel against the courtier and sister of the Earl of Essex, Lady Penelope Rich.
Four-color artwork for the front and back covers are William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c. 1585, oil on canvas, and Sir Philip Sidney (18th century or after, based on a work circa 1576), both from the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Established in 1998 as a peer reviewed scholarly journal, The Oxfordian is the publication of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship. Its Editorial Board is comprised of a dozen experts in English, comparative literature, history, the law, and medicine. According to the World Catalog of Libraries, 745 public and university libraries subscribe to The Oxfordian. Moreover, its contents are indexed in the four leading bibliographies in the Humanities: The Modern Language Association International Bibliography, ProQuest (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature), the World Shakespeare Bibliography, and Gale Academic OneFile.
and more!
