Sweet Swan of Avon

The Masters Program in London on Shakespeare Authorship Studies

2010-08-04T10:42:00.004-06:00

This is a report on my experience, from Robin Williams

Professor William Leahy made history in 2007 when he developed and inaugurated the first post-graduate program in the world that looks at the question of the authorship of the Shakespearean works. The program is at Brunel University in London, a campus founded in 1966 that now holds more than 15,000 students from over 100 countries.

The Masters program does not try to discover, “Who wrote Shakespeare?” Rather, the program’s focus is on the question itself: why is it not going away, what are the facts and issues behind the debate, why is the question greeted with such fierce antagonism and even vitriol in academic settings? Scholars complain that most of what is written about the authorship question is bad scholarship, but how can decent scholarship develop if it is not allowed to be discussed? Dr. Leahy himself does not find enough evidence to warrant his allegiance to any particular candidate, thus an open-minded and non-biased attitude permeates the entire curriculum.

The program consists of four modules, each designed to flesh out the history of Shakespeare’s changing place in the world and to provide students with a broad background within which to consider the question. Each module requires a 5,000-word essay/paper to pass.

“Research Methodologies” is an education in the textual scholarship of the plays, methods of research, how to judge sources, document retrieval, early modern printing and spelling, paleography, Shakespeare’s source materials, assessing multiple versions of texts, preparing for visits to libraries and archives, and how to write a professional academic paper, among other related concerns. My own papers for this module were 1) a bibliographic assessment of a 1763 German book that claims to be a translation of Mary Sidney’s manuscript of four rather mysterious techniques; and 2) a comparison of an original source material (a Greek version of the story of Jason and the Argonauts) with the published play of The Merchant of Venice. At the conclusion of the course and learning from the comments on my papers, I felt well-grounded in research techniques with an overview of early modern texts, and I felt I had the basics of the appropriate skills to enable me to move forward in this arena.

“The Making of Shakespeare” module traces the path of Shakespeare’s acceptance in the world from his own time up to the present. This module includes studies of early modern London and theaters, how the Shakespearean works have been adapted and edited and rewritten according to the mores of each era, how Shakespeare’s image has been influenced by each era—from a rustic and old-fashioned writer to a romantic genius to a deified entity—as well as readings and discussions of the theoretical works of Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault in relation to the ideas of authorship. We looked at the work of Nicholas Rowe and other early biographers, actors, editors, and critics who influenced perceptions of Shakespeare, such as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, David Garrick, Edmond Malone, up through Samuel Schoenbaum, Steven Greenblatt, and James Shapiro. I found it fascinating to see how Shakespeare has been refashioned to match the ideals of each era, and how these eras have influenced the editing and scholarship of the works. The slow process of deification over the centuries is what has led, I realized, to the resistance today of questioning his authorship (there are remarkable parallels to the sixteenth-century resistance of printing the Bible in English so the common masses could have direct access to the Bible, but that’s another story). My own paper for this section was on the Woman’s Club movement in America in the late 1800s/early 1900s that disseminated Shakespeare across the country and promoted widespread reading of the plays.

“The Shakespeare Authorship Question” module presents an unbiased overview of the question to date, including its history and premise, theories of authorship, the evidence for Shakespeare, the evidence for the question, the problems of attributions and declarations, the attitude of academia, academic authority, the question as a postmodern phenomenon, as well as individual presentations of the arguments for the four leading candidates (Mary Sidney, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford) from outside authorities. My research paper for this module was to discover for myself the prevalence of pseudonymous or anonymous publications in the Elizabethan/Jacobean age. I found it riveting to discover the Elizabethan passion for wordplay and name games that influenced a widespread pseudonymous culture in print, inspiring me to create my own nom de plume.

The final module, “Shakespeare, the Collaborator,” looks at the complex field of literary collaboration and authorship attribution, including the studies from Brian Vickers and Jonathon Hope that attribute certain portions of the Shakespearean plays to writers such as Peele, Kyd, and Middleton. This module focuses on the history and philosophy of attribution studies, how they parallel and conflict with attitudes to Shakespeare throughout history, as well as how to gauge the reliability of studies and their results. To this end, close readings of the Shakespearean plays alongside those of his contemporaries focus on recognizing the techniques and jargon of metrics, imagery, rhetorical devices, verse vs. prose vs. rhyme and how they are used, play structure, rare words, and characterization, to enable not only effective comparisons of authors, but an ability to understand and appraise the existing studies. A continuing thread throughout the course is the importance of proper argumentation and documentation. My own paper for this module was yet another method of attributing authorship using visual patterns to compare the metrics of the language in Shakespearean and other plays. Seeing Shakespearean plays in a visual form is enlightening, I discovered; although it is limited in its quantitative value in coauthorship studies, there may be other uses for my technique. I must admit it was rather shocking to see how the multitude of attribution studies contradict each other—one wonders where this important study will eventually lead us.

All papers are read and marked by two PhDs, analyzed by computer programs for plagiarism, and sent to an External Examiner for final comments and an assessment of the program in general. To complete the Masters, a fifty-page dissertation (a critical essay) is required. Personally, learning to write papers in the appropriate “scholarly” fashion was difficult for me because it’s just about the opposite of how I’ve written more than sixty computer/design books. I did take advantage of the great variety of workshops, seminars, and private tutoring that Brunel provides to support graduate students in all areas of the process. Based on the marks I received on the papers, it appears I was able to rise to the occasion.

Dr. Leahy is to be commended for having the courage to create this exciting and important program. I am honored that I was able to participate and look forward both to its future and to mine.

* * * * *
Brunel University
Authorship Studies program at Brunel

* * * * *
Shakespeare and His Authors:
Critical Perspectives on the Authorship Question, William Leahy

Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare? Robin P. Williams

Catching up

2010-06-09T06:12:00.002-06:00

I see there are some questions in the comments that I haven't answered, me being such a lame blogger.

Regarding the paperback: the agent never could find a publisher so I will be editing and updating the book this fall and releasing it myself. That's the plan, anyway. A friend in Germany suggested I also do a "lite" version, which is an interesting idea.

Regarding the Canadian documentary: It never happened. I have no idea why -- someone called just a few months before the summer they wanted to schedule it, but I never heard from them again. John and I have it on our list to create a nice DVD of my presentation so there will be something for teachers to show students, at least. Or anyone else who might be interested.

Sweet Swan of Avon, the book, has been optioned by a fabulous team of producers in Hollywood, though. They are extremely interested and committed and have produced remarkable (and well-known) films. I've been asked not to say much about it at this point, though.

Regarding Mary Sidney's will: That's a question I've wondered often myself -- how unusual was it for a woman in her position to not have a will? It's been on my list for a long time to do some research on that, and now that I have access (as a student) to a much greater pool of information, I'll put that on my list again.

I will be doing several presentations about Mary Sidney in northern California in late October. I'll post a schedule when it gets closer. If you're interested in organizing a talk for your own group in that area, just let me know!

more real soon now . . . . . . . . :-)
Robin

Update

2009-06-18T09:54:00.002-06:00

I must be the World's Worst Blogger. So much has happened in the past year and so much is coming up -- I have no idea why I don't blog more often. Maybe I work too much.

In mid-September I leave for London for six to nine months to get a Masters in Shakespearean Authorship at Brunel University, the first post-graduate degree on that topic in the world. I'm hoping that when I am immersed in nothing else except the Shakespearean works and Mary Sidney that I will blog every dang day. But before I leave I have to get four books to press, so back to work I go.

anon!

Orbis Mundi -- Reading Shakespeare

2008-02-11T14:09:00.001-07:00

Amy just told me about a great little web site that keeps track of the number of people reading "shakespeare"—Shakespeare’s Global Globe. This is so great! It would be really terrific if there was some way to contact other reading groups to share information about how everyone is reading. I've lead two reading groups for six years, plus Amy and I have the lengthy discussion group, The Understanders.

If you have a Shakespeare reading group, please let me know!

Sweet Swan in paperback?

2008-02-05T18:11:00.001-07:00

I have an agent! A book agent. One who knows what I'm capable of and thinks it's perfectly viable to find a publisher to put Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare? into paperback. Bless his heart. With the two documentaries about Mary Sidney coming out this year, it shouldn't be too difficult to sell to a publisher, I hope. Then we can start promoting it to book clubs and do a new push.

This agent is also interested in selling my book about starting your own Shakespeare reading group. I was astounded, while speaking on the Shakespeare at Sea cruise, how few people actually read Shakespeare! It's so great to read a play in a group, especially. And with things showing up like brain gyms specifically for boomers and older, it's an indication of how much people might actually enjoy learning something new in this way. If you have any experience with a Shakespeare reading group and are interested in sharing, please let me know.

And My Agent is also interested in shopping my book about the women in Shakespeare -- a fun, illustrated look at 52 women and what they accomplished. Then those books will open the doors to other projects! woo hoo! I've got a long list of projects already on my plate and can't wait to dive in.

Upcoming talks about Mary Sidney

2008-01-29T12:45:00.001-07:00

I have several talks about Mary Sidney as author coming up.

One is at the Newberry Library in Chicago, at their Wednesday Club. This will be Wednesday, May 7, 2008. The reception begins at 5:30 and my talk at 6:15. My dear friends Jim Price and Don Newcomb, founders of the ChicaGourmet Club (the premier gourmet source in Chicago) will also be creating a dinner event while I'm there. Stay tuned for more info.

Also in May, I'll be speaking at the UCLA Affiliates Luncheon in Los Angeles. That's May 15, 11:30 to 2 p.m.

If you're in town, please drop in and say hello!

New group open for discussion

2008-01-27T18:31:00.001-07:00

I get email regularly from people who have questions or comments about Mary Sidney as the author of the shakespearean works. So I started a Google Group to facilitate an open discussion between interested people. Please visit and add your thoughts!

The address is http://groups.google.com/group/MarySidney.

The only rule about posting questions or comments is that you have to be nice! Even though other authorship groups, including shakespeareans, say really mean things to each other, we're not going to do that. We're the nice ones. :-)

Shakespeare at Sea 2008

2008-01-27T14:28:00.001-07:00

Wow—I just got word that I was invited back by the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival to speak on the next Shakespeare at Sea cruise, November 2008. Judging from the line-up of speakers, I am the only one from the previous cruise who was asked to return. In fact, they asked me to do six presentations, but golly, it takes me a week to prepare each one! So I asked to do only five. At the moment, I'll be doing presentations on two of the plays that will be in the 2009 season at OSF, one on death in Shakespeare, one on the humours (which includes a self-test to see what kind of humour you are most abundant in, and which characters you are thus most like), and "Why Read Shakespeare?"

While I was at Macworld in San Francisco attending to the working-for-a-living part of my life, I was approached by the book buyer for the gift shop at OSF (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). She ordered 25 copies of Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare? because four people from the cruise (where I was not allowed to even talk about Mary Sidney) have come in requesting the book. Aha! A breach in the wall.

The Year of Mary Sidney

2007-11-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

Omigosh the past six months were hellacious, but I just sent off The Last Computer Book I Will Ever Write and am dedicated to spending the next thirteen months on nothing but Mary Sidney and the Shakespearean works. I just got back from doing four presentations and a quiz show on the Shakespeare at Sea cruise which was so successful they are already booking for next year. I was not allowed to talk about Mary Sidney or authorship at all, but that's okay because it was more important on this venture to establish my knowledge of the Shakespearean works and my presentation/teaching skills on that subject.

A couple of documentaries are in progress about Mary Sidney; I'm doing a talk about her at the Newberry Library in Chicago and to the UCLA affiliates in Los Angeles in May; Wiltshire Life magazine, where Mary's estate of Wilton House is located, has asked me to write an article for the magazine; the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival has asked me to come out and do a talk this summer; and more. I'll put up details in the next few days. I also plan to start a Google news group so all those of us interested can share information more readily. And I must update the MarySidney.com and MarySidneySociety.org sites! So much to do! More anon!

Reasonable Doubt

2007-04-19T12:46:00.000-06:00

The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition has formulated the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare. It’s a document expressing the bona fide issues with the authorship (not actually the identity of the man named William Shakespeare) to educate people about the discussion and to advocate an open-minded examination. As the last line states, “We hereby declare that the identity of William Shakespeare should, henceforth, be regarded in academia as a legitimate issue for research and publication, and an appropriate topic for instruction and discussion in classrooms.”

As you may well know, the subject of authorship is strictly taboo in most colleges and universities—an odd contradiction in institutions that are supposed to explore and question and teach us to think for ourselves.

sigh.

But you have a chance to change all this! You are encouraged to sign the declaration yourself. If you do it by midnight (London time) on April 21, 2007, you will be on the historical list of initial signers. Your name will go down in history. Go to their web site: www.DoubtAboutWill.org and sign on!

Why English Professors Are Particularly Ill-Suited To Examine The Authorship Question

2007-03-16T11:21:00.000-06:00

The following is a guest blog from Ross Carter.

As we know, most English professors -- I shall call them EPs -- are quick to dismiss anyone who lacks university credentials, as if their particular sect of scholarship represents the One True Way and followers of anything else are infidels. I won't deny that EPs working within the confines of their profession perform a valuable service; while I haven't yet figured out what it is, nevertheless I grant the possibility that they in fact do something worthwhile. But their profession has nothing to do with deductive reasoning, and that is what the Question is all about.

My point goes further than the simple fact that EPs have no special ability that makes them best suited to examine the Question. I contend that the nature of their work in fact renders them the least capable.

EPs live -- or at least work -- in a world where fact is secondary to supposition. What do EPs do? They publish articles that argue for or against some interpretation of a literary work. The principal source is the text of the work itself. The objective of the article is simply to get published, which essentially means writing something that peers who do the peer-reviewing will approve. It is a closed system. The EPs reach into the real world long enough to grab a literary work and then retreat into their private conclave, opinionating among themselves, writing articles that are incapable of verification or disproof. The only judges of their work are their own kinsmen.

As revealing as what EPs do is what they don't do. They don't, as far as I am aware, develop research techniques that enable them to interview living writers and discern what an actual author intended her work to convey. They don't investigate the creative processes that actual writers use. They don't compile data that will be of use to other scholars. In short they make no attempt to correlate their conclusions with the actual facts regarding what a writer intended to communicate; they do not even have research protocols developed for that purpose.

The EPs' world is entirely subjective. It is all argumentation about opinions that can never be verified or disproved. The fruit of an EP's labor is tested only as to its plausibility among compatriots. It is not fired in a crucible of observable fact, as in most other scholarly disciplines.

Back here in the real world, where EPs seldom venture, that crucible culls our every effort. Take for example a lawyer. His success depends not on what other lawyers think of him, but on his abilities, including above all his ability to make the right judgment from among an expanse of alternatives. Or take, say, a highly successful author of computer books. She could not have sold a gazillion fact-filled books if those facts were not accurate. In their careers, these people have to be right; not just plausible or provocative but right. They look at the facts available to them and make deductive judgments that are subjected to make-or-break dissection by disinterested or even hostile arbiters.

It should be clear to all who study the Authorship Question that it requires precisely that kind of ability. From available facts, the scholar submits a hypothesis that can be disproved or validated by the examination of other facts not known to the scholar when the hypothesis was offered. In this manner each scholar's effort contributes to our progressive knowledge.

The most important voices on the Authorship Question are those of people who have demonstrated success in the application of deductive reasoning. EPs can demonstrate nothing more than success in placating their colleagues. Those who are interested in the Question should regard lack of university credentials in English Literature as a credential in itself.

Ross Carter

From Robin: As Don Foster (the Vassar professor who "proved" the Funeral Elegy was written by Shakespeare and later someone else "proved" Shakespeare didn't write it) states, "In my field, no one is required to actually "prove" anything. We merely write incredibly clever commentary."

It’s an American question.

2007-01-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Two Brits have coldly admonished me, with sniffs and noses in the air, that the Shakespearean Authorship Question is “merely an American question.” End of discussion. And that is one of Peter Holland’s two “arguments” against the authorship issue in his article about WS in the Dictionary of National [British] Biography (his other argument is, “You’re just a snob”).

Claiming it to be merely an American question (because Americans are somehow prone as a nation to conspiracy theories, Holland claims) seems to be almost as popular a line as “You're just a snob,” particular with the British. It’s also an ad hominem argument, as if somehow being an “American question” automatically makes it an inferior or stupid question or you are an inferior or stupid American for thinking such a thing (and consequently, the speaker is the superior English person). AND IT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE ISSUE.

And like “You’re just a snob,” it skirts the issue without the speaker having to know anything about the question at all. Very convenient.

Funny, the Brits who told me this and the British Peter Holland all live in America.

You’re just a snob.

2007-01-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

“You’re just a snob” if you think Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare. Criminy, how many times have I heard or read that stupid line. It’s the first and favorite thing a Shakespearean will tell you if you dare bring up the authorship issue. And I repeat: it’s a stupid line. And a rude one. “You’re just a snob” is an ad hominem argument; ad hominem means “to the man.” That is, it personally attacks the person bringing up the inquiry — IT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE ISSUE. It is a rude statement that is designed to make the person discussing authorship feel like a low-class, immoral elitist, but it has NOTHING to do with the very real issues surrounding the authorship. Here’s an equivalent argument: She says, “Santa Fe has an average of 300 sunny days a year.” He says, “You're just a slut.” Ad hominem.

Shakespeareans use that line regularly because it is an easy way to skirt the problems (and make you feel crummy and themselves feel superior). I particularly take offense at being told this for two reasons.

1. In my book, Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare?, my argument is NOT that Shakespeare didn’t have any record of an education or a presence at court and therefore wasn’t qualified to write these works. My argument is that there is no clear documentation that he was a writer, along the lines of Diana Price’s book, Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography. So don’t yell at me for claiming WS couldn’t have written them without the education and background, because I don’t claim that. Of course he might have had an education “that would put many college graduates to shame today” and he might have had friends in the literati and he might have hung around at court and he might have studied rhetoric and poetry and French and Italian and alchemy, etc. etc. etc. It’s certainly possible that he might have done all these things.

2. Why on earth would *I* claim someone couldn't do something that they don’t have “appropriate credentials” for? H*ll, my first computer book was turned down by ten publishers because I don’t have a degree in computers. I had to self-publish my first two computer books which have now sold more than two million copies and are in many different languages. I had the same problem with the Sweet Swan of Avon — I don’t have the “appropriate background” in Shakespeare studies and had to essentially self-publish it. So far be it from ME to claim William Shakespeare didn't have the appropriate background.

The funny thing is that the author of the Shakespearean works is a huge snob. The lower classes are consistently belittled; the upper classes naturally speak better and are more refined and somehow very well educated even if they’ve grown up in a shepherd’s hut or in a cave. (I’m working on an essay about that and will eventually post it here.)

The brilliant writer Elliot Baker sent me a copy of a published letter of Delia Bacon’s in which she told someone sputtering about Shakespeare, “You do not know what is in those Plays if you think that booby wrote them.” I have to agree with her.

Conspiracy? Hardly.

2007-01-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

This posting is from Jim Norrena, a guest blogger for Mary Sidney:

I do love a good mystery! Yet for all the hoopla about Robin Williams’ Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare? and how she brings to light “a new conspiracy theory” upholding Mary Sidney Herbert to be the author of the Shakespearean works, I disagree that any so-called conspiracy exists in this fascinating research.

According to Williams’ research, The Countess of Pembroke didn’t gain a stitch in concealing her endeavors (intentionally or otherwise); no choice existed in the matter. Mary Sidney was not permitted to write in such a manner—to do so would contradict the social order, thus defying God’s will.

Should William, Mary Sidney’s oldest son and Lord Chamberlain, have endeavored to conceal his mother’s work (to protect not only her but also himself), it would most logically have been done to protect the family’s noble standing—not to gain additional riches or prestige.

Conspiracy? Hardly. To study Mary Sidney’s life is to further understand just how extraordinary this woman was from a literary, intellectual, and historical perspective. She could do almost anything she wanted, and she did, but her one true desire—to write the greatest works in the English language—was thwarted by the established reigning proprieties of the era.

What Williams uncovers about Mary Sidney is far better described as an unmasking of social oppression. Rather than approach this subject matter with the idea that somehow Mary plotted and schemed to conceal her authorship of the plays and sonnets, I suggest reading Sweet Swan of Avon as a history lesson about a time and place where women could not shine as bright as they were, but did so at their own expense, such as illustrated by Mary Sidney’s anonymous (and credited) contributions to a society that was denied the chance to fully embrace her greatness.

Conspiracy? Try payback.

Mary Sidney Pareidolia? Oh my!

2006-12-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

An amazing example of pareidolia! ;-) I received this email this morning:

Dear Ms. Williams,

After reading your fabulous book Sweet Swan of Avon, I was eating my usual breakfast of toast and marmalade (imported from Great Britain) and happened to notice a fascinating phenomenon.

See for yourself.

I am holding off reporting this sighting to the press until the Mary Sidney Society confirms this as an actual sighting. Please let me know how I should proceed.
Thanks ever so much.

All the best,
LeTaylor

New book on Mary Sidney as author!

2006-11-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

A new book has just come out about Mary Sidney as author of the Shakespearean works! Fred Faulkes, a librarian in Vancouver, has just published the first of fifteen volumes, called Tiger's Heart in Woman's Hide. I'm part way through the book, and I'm impressed with his work. His entire collection of fifteen volumes will take him a while to produce in its entirety, but will, I believe, be a most invaluable contribution to this Shakespearean authorship question.

"After an exhaustive trawl through the Elizabethan archives, [Fred Faulkes] is surprised to discover that the question of Shakespeare’s authorship was alive right from the very beginning and would thereafter feature regularly in the satirical press. Yes, there was an actor by the name of William Shakspere but behind him, doing the writing, there appears to have been a woman." And that woman, of course, is Mary Sidney.

It is so exciting, and very confirming, that others have independently come to the same conclusion. Fred is actively encouraging others to pursue this possibility, and so are we all at the Mary Sidney Society. I'll be posting a list of things that would be good starting points for further inquiry.

The Understanders

2006-11-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, our 13-week line-by-line discussion of The Merchant of Venice is drawing to a close. It was a grand adventure -- we all thought we knew what the play was about, we thought we understood it. But going through it line-by-line and making sure we understood every word, every nuance, every implication, made us realize the play is deeper and richer and more magnificent than we originally thought -- and we already thought very highly!

The next Understanders is a 17-week discussion of King Lear. If you're in the Santa Fe area, please join us! Check The Understanders web site for more info about what The Understanders is all about, what we've been learning, or to sign up for the next class.

Shakespeare at Sea

2006-11-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a hoot! Neil Bauman of Geek Cruises is putting together several non-geek cruises -- one on opera, one on chess, and a ten-day cruise to the Panama Canal called Shakespeare at Sea! It leaves from Ft. Lauderdale and wanders around the Caribbean, goes into the Panama Canal and turns around in that big lake, then heads on back. The cruise is co-sponsored with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. There's quite a nice line-up of presentations, films, discussions, performances. I'll be giving four or five talks, plus I'll be the emcee for a really great quiz show. And I'm working on creating pages of "Shakespeare" games that will be slipped under your door every morning, games that test your knowledge of the works. Oh, it's much more fun to do this than to work for a living.

I will bring along a presentation about Mary Sidney and her role in the authorship question, just in case anyone is interested in hearing more about the possibility. But nothing will be pre-publicized about that talk because there are those who are afraid it might make some people refuse to show up! ;-) Which is true. sigh.

The cruise-plus-conference is rather expensive (depending on the room you choose), but Neil has kindly offered a "Friends of Robin" discount of $300 per person if you sign up before Thanksgiving. It would be great if I wasn't the only MarySidneian on board!

The Cygnet, a journal of inquiry

2006-11-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Mary Sidney Society has published its first journal, called The Cygnet. The journal is dedicated to publishing articles relating to all aspects of Mary Sidney, her relationship to the authorship question, pertinent information about the Shakespearean works, as well as articles about other unsung women. The journal is sent to members of the Mary Sidney Society, but when our redesigned web site is up, we'll have a shopping cart where the limited number of extra copies will be available. It's not only an interesting journal, it's beautiful!

Sidney Supper 2006

2006-11-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Fourth Annual Sidney Supper celebrating Mary Sidney's birthday was a Grand Success! We had a pageant full of earnest volunteers, a feast, Falstaff's Photo Op, an Elizabethan dance lesson! People came from California, Texas, Kentucky, and Ohio. Dana Evans showed her eleven-minute trailer with which she's applying for funds for a documentary.

The Cygnet Award to honor unsung women was presented to Beatrice Ntuba of Cameroon, accepted by Barbara Riley. The Bard-Buster Award for the person who has spent inordinate time and energy toward the authorship question and Mary Sidney was awarded by Jim’Bo Norrena to Dana Evans -- she was presented with a plaster bust of William Shakespeare, which she can decorate as she likes over the next year; at the Sidney supper 2007, she will present the award to the next worthy winner.

There are a few photos posted on our iWeb site. We hope you can either join us next year or start your own tradition of Sidney Suppers in your hometown! This event was sponsored by the Mary Sidney Society.

Breakfast with Mark Rylance

2006-10-03T15:31:00.000-06:00

Mark Rylance was the original Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London from the time it opened in 1996 until this 2006 season. He's also the Director of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust in London, which was started in 1922 to support research into the authorship. He's also one of the greatest Shakespearean actors today. Mark's adorable wife, Claire van Kampen, also recently stepped down as the Musical Director at the Globe. They were both staying with friends in Santa Fe for a week and we had breakfast together.

Since Mark and Claire left the Globe, they've been pretty closed about what future options they're exploring. I do know that Mark is writing several plays, including one about the authorship. In it, Mark gets visited by William Shakespeare; Sir Francis Bacon; Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford; and Mary Sidney. Each one talks about their authorship of the plays and sonnets, and Mark goes into the audience with a microphone so they can ask questions of the candidates. He's asked me to go to London for a month to help train the actress to "be" Mary Sidney. Gosh darn, I'll have to live in London for a month. ;-) The play will open in Chichester sometime in early 2007.

My SwanMobile!

2006-07-26T23:19:00.000-06:00

Okay, I will bet that I have the only Toyota Matrix in the world with a chrome-plated swan hood ornament. I bought it on eBay for $9. Tommy Segura, my dear friend and one of the greatest guys in the world, shined it up and put it on for me.

Now my car—with its license plate holder that says “Mary Sidney” and its bumper sticker that says “Who is Mary Sidney” and now its swan hood ornament—is a traveling commercial. The things one must do to sell books.

The cave at Milford Haven

2006-07-18T00:38:00.000-06:00

People always ask me how things might change if it turns out to be proven that Mary Sidney wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare. I do believe we certainly won’t lose anything—and we will gain so much. It’s very satisfying to connect an author with the works.

Here’s a very simple example. Dorothy Parker wrote an epigram that goes like this: Guns aren't lawful; nooses give; gas smells awful; you might as well live. Now, that’s a odd little piece, but it becomes much more interesting when you learn that Dorothy Parker tried to commit suicide at least four times.

It’s always been sad that don’t have that opportunity with Shakespeare; we haven’t been able to connect anything in William Shakespeare’s life with this rich, emotional, powerful body of work. Here’s a minor example of how interesting it could be when linking Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke, to the plays:

In the Shakespearean play Cymbeline, the heroine, Imogen, runs away to Wales, specifically to the town of Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire. Milford Haven is mentioned by name fifteen times. There is a cave in Milford Haven where two young men were raised (Imogen’s brothers, who were stolen at birth); the cave is mentioned almost a dozen times. This all becomes much more interesting when you realize that in the town of Milford Haven there really is a cave. Access to the cave is through Pembroke Castle, Mary Sidney's estate. From inside the castle, you climb down fifty steps into a cave that opens out to a view of the river.

What a delightful treat to go exploring the castle and cave knowing that she was there and that this spot inspired the play Cymbeline!

A good listener?

2006-07-10T06:09:00.000-06:00

I recently returned from Chicago, New York City, and Portland, Oregon after a spate of discussions, book signings, and radio interviews. The radio show in Chicago with Milt Rosenberg included Peter Holland, a British professor of Shakespeare teaching here in America at Notre Dame. When a caller asked how William Shakespeare acquired the amazing range of knowledge shown in the plays, Holland said “I believe Shakespeare was a good listener.”

I think that’s so sad. It’s sad that Shakespeareans must denigrate the breadth and depth of the knowledge of this writer merely so they don’t have to explain where he came by such a wealth of book learning including study of rhetorical devices, languages, history, mythology, medicine, the classics, etc. “A good listener.” Sheesh. That’s like saying Albert Einstein or Marie Curie did what they did by being good listeners.

How much more satisfying and inspiring it will be when we can take a close look at the education of this writer. It might help us gain a sense of how she came to do what she did; we might better comprehend how these plays developed and gain a clearer understanding of how the knowledge in them was transmuted into such art. Then we can begin to more fully understand and appreciate the brilliance of the mind that wrote them. That would be much more satisfying than pathetically believing the writer was merely “a good listener.”

Sidney Supper 2006!

2006-07-05T00:19:00.000-06:00

We have chosen a date for the Sidney Supper! Saturday, October 21, here in Santa Fe. All are welcome to attend! Details will be forthcoming over the future months, but we hope you put the date on your calendar! The event is a grand affair, modeled after the Burns Suppers, with food and libations, ceremony, a pageant -- honoring Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke and the possibility that she wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare.

Mary Sidney—She's the Man

2006-07-01T22:57:00.000-06:00

Last week I had a discussion and book signing at Garcia Street Books in Santa Fe, and it was so great. There were about 60 people and the store sold out of 55 books. Which is particularly wonderful because it’s my home town and because you never know if anyone’s going to show up for a book signing. Worse than no one showing up is when one person shows up, which is what happened in Cupertino many years ago. Cupertino, of all places, where Apple lives. One person showed up and it was mortally humiliating, but worse, I heard through the years that this one person told everyone else that only one person showed up. sigh.

But the event in Santa Fe was wonderful and everyone was so supportive and everyone bought books. It gives me the courage to carry on.

Our new bumper sticker: Mary Sidney—she’s the man!

Get serious?

2006-06-30T23:51:00.000-06:00

When I showed someone our invitation to the 2005 Sidney Supper, he read through it, paused for a moment while pondering his thought, trying to figure out how to say this politely, then murmured, “Um, this isn’t very . . . scholarly. It looks, well, like you don’t take yourselves very seriously.”

Isn’t that odd, that if it looks like you’re having a good time, it can’t be “scholarly” or “important” or “right.” That's exactly what happened when I wrote my first computer book—it was easy to read and easy to understand and it made you laugh here and there. So it couldn’t have been a good computer book! But some have claimed that it changed the direction of computer books. And it's sold more than a million copies.

Serious can often equal boring. “Wives may be merry and yet honest too.” The Mary Sidney Society, the book Sweet Swan of Avon, the board meetings, the Sidney Supper—not boring.

Authorship book has an authorship problem

2006-06-28T00:17:00.000-06:00

If you’ve been looking for the book, Sweet Swan of Avon, by Robin Williams, you may have noticed that some bookstores have it listed as by Kim Brady! Somehow Kim’s name got in the Books-in-Print database and we’re having a hard time getting it out. I don’t even know who Kim Brady is! She wrote a book about scrapbooking for Peachpit and somehow her name got attached. But don’t worry—it’s the right book.

2006-06-26T12:33:00.000-06:00

My new book, Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare, is now available at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores everywhere!

2006-06-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

more anon.