“The absence of the author has brought about an absolute tragedy . . . .”
by Theresa Lauricella
Award-winning poet Chris Pannell, editor of The Oxfordian, spoke about the Shakespeare Authorship Question (SAQ) with Art Waves host Bernadette Rule on August 21, 2016.
In the hour-long interview, recorded at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Canada, Pannell detailed flaws in the traditionalist viewpoint and put forward compelling evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was the writer of the works of Shakespeare. Armed with a bevy of sources, Pannell cited Diana Price’s Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography, Joseph Sobran’s Alias Shakespeare, and Charlton Ogburn’s The Mysterious William Shakespeare.
Early in the program, Pannell posited that Shakespeare’s works warrant authorship research. “The absence of the author has brought about an absolute tragedy . . . .”
Art Waves host Bernadette Rule, an apparent sympathizer of the Stratford man, was notably intrigued when Pannell revealed the theory that “William Shakespeare” was an allonym, or the name of a living person taken by the author as a pen name. Rule noted how dangerous that would have been during the Elizabethan era, to which Pannell admitted, “He [William Shaksper] was paid well for that risk.” Thus, Pannell showed how Shaksper could afford the second largest house in Stratford when records do not indicate him to be a writer, or even an actor, by trade yet he still had more wealth than his acting contemporaries Burbage and Kemp.
At about the halfway point in the interview, Pannell revealed to Rule that we can find our author within the pages of Hamlet, including its early editions, which orthodox scholars have here-to-fore suggested were source material for the Bard’s masterpiece. Pannell showcased the link between the plot of Hamlet and the 17th Earl of Oxford’s life as well as Oxford’s connection to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, to whom Oxford was first ward and then son-in-law. Pannell illustrated the connection further with an example in the First Quarto of Hamlet. Instead of “Polonius,” the character was called “Corambis,” which is a Latin wordplay on Lord Burghley’s motto.
Pannell whetted the appetite for the intriguing and thrilling aspects of Oxford’s life that undeniably point to him as the writer, but he has much more to say on the matter. Fortunately, a follow-up interview has been promised in early 2017.
You can listen to the full broadcast here:
https://archive.org/details/294ChrisPannellOnWhoWroteShakespeareAug.212016
The program closes with an excellent rendition of William Byrd’s Lord Oxford’s March performed by the Malaysian Brass Orchestra.
[posted September 6, 2016]
