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Last Updated: Jan 16th, 2010 - 15:26:11 |
It is long overdue that someone took a closer look at the brilliant
Mary Sidney. I have a suspicion that Mary Sidney’s life, and especially
her dedication to the English language after her brother’s death, may
throw important light on the mysterious authorship of the Shakespeare
plays and poems.
—Mark Rylance
Actor; Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 1996–2006; Chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust
For more than two hundred years, a growing number of researchers have
questioned whether the man named William Shakespeare actually wrote the
works attributed to him. There is no paper trail for William
Shakespeare—no record that he was ever paid for writing, nothing in his
handwriting but a few signatures on legal documents, no evidence of his
presence in the royal court except as an actor in his later years, no
confirmation of his involvement in the literary circles of the time.
With so little information about this man—and even less evidence
connecting him to the plays and sonnets—what can and what can’t we
assume about the author of the greatest works of the English language?
For the first time, Robin P. Williams
presents an in-depth inquiry into the possibility that Mary Sidney
Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke, wrote the works attributed to the
man named William Shakespeare. As well educated as Queen Elizabeth I,
this woman was at the forefront of the literary movement in England,
yet not allowed to write for the public stage. But that’s just the
beginning...
The first question I am asked by curious
freshmen in my Shakespeare course is always, “Who wrote these plays
anyway?” Now, because of Robin Williams’ rigorous scholarship and
artful sleuthing, Mary Sidney Herbert will forever have to be mentioned
as a possible author of the Shakespeare canon. Sweet Swan of Avon
doesn’t pretend to put the matter to rest, but simply shows how
completely reasonable the authorship controversy is, and how the idea
of a female playwright surprisingly answers more Shakespearean
conundrums than it creates...
—Cynthia Lee Katona
Professor of Shakespeare and Women’s Studies, Ohlone College; Author of Book Savvy
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