by Tom Regnier Editorial Note: See also Regnier’s more in-depth review of this book. Cambridge University Press recently released Shakespeare Beyond Doubt (Edmondson & Wells
In Scott Evans’ new novel, “First Folio,” priceless handwritten manuscripts reveal that the most famous writer in the world — William Shakespeare — was a fraud, and that the true author of Shakespeare’s iconic plays actually was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.
This article from the Summer 1998 Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter gives an introduction and brief overview of researcher Peter Dickson’s startling, provocative theory about the true political-historical context surrounding the publication of the First Folio, namely that the publication occurred in the midst of a major –but now all but forgotten– historic event: the Spanish Marriage Crisis. Dickson makes a strong case that the First Folio publication project must have been connected with –and influenced by– this political crisis. Such a connection –if borne out over time– could change forever all Shakespearean scholarship (Stratfordian and anti-Stratfordian) on this critical period in English history.
Roger Stritmatter illustrates the explanatory power of Peter Dickson’s theory about the political context of the First Folio publication with this telling look at why –possibly– Cymbeline appears as the last play in the First Folio, a circumstance that has puzzled scholars for decades and for which no good answer has ever been provided.
by Charlton Ogburn Jr. This essay was posted on the Shakespeare Oxford Society (now SOF) website on September 9, 2005, and represents an enlightening summary
