More about the "Dark Lady" - did she write Shakespeare?
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lyra
Mar 24, 2007, 3:39:53 PM3/24/07
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(quote, excerpts)
____________________
That's Miss Shakespeare to You
A new play wants to convince you that the Bard was black, Jewish, and female
by Julia Wallace
March 23rd, 2007 7:13 PM
A middle-aged British man named John Hudson wants to convince you that Shakespeare was actually not a middle-aged British man named Shakespeare, but a black Jewish woman named Amelia Bassano. He has spent the past five years compiling a huge body of research�enough, he hopes, to prove that Bassano wrote all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. This spring, his work is finally coming to a head: He's shopping an 800-page book to various publishers and spearheading a new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that takes its cues from his theory.
...he first began to detect what he says are hidden Jewish elements in the plays and embarked upon a search for an author who might have put them there. This is nothing new�for as long as Shakespeare has been celebrated, his identity has been in doubt�but Amelia Bassano might be the unlikeliest candidate ever proposed. She was one of the first female poets in England but is best known because of a now discredited theory that she was Shakespeare's muse, the Dark Lady referred to in his sonnets. It is not widely believed that she was black; still, Hudson thinks she was the Dark Lady as well as the author of the sonnets. Why would she write the sonnets to herself? "Well, why would she not write the sonnets to herself?" he counters with a puzzled stare.
Hudson bases much of his theory on references in Shakespeare's works to music and Hebrew words that he could not have been familiar with; Bassano, on the other hand, came from a family of musicians and had Jewish roots. But the most incontrovertible piece of evidence, according to Hudson, is the fact that each time a dying swan�perhaps a metaphor for the poet�appears in Shakespeare's work, there is a character present who bears a name associated with Bassano. "The probability that these signatures are not a coincidence is 99.999999999999999999 percent," he declares. "Eighteen decimal places."
Somewhat predictably, Hudson has been having some trouble getting his proposal accepted (or even examined) by more mainstream scholars. He is frustrated by the fact that not a single English professor at Columbia has been willing to talk to him. "They'll just tell you it's rubbish," he predicts. "That's what always happens with new industry models."
Alan Stewart, a professor of 16th-century literature at Columbia, is quick to declare that the theory "has no validity whatsoever," but he admits to being tickled by Hudson's choice of Amelia Bassano. "He's picked somebody who is quite interesting in her own right, and who deserves a lot more time, so in a sort of strange sense I'm glad. But this is just incredibly marginal."
Try telling that to the Dark Lady Players. The entire production is surrounded by an aura of evangelism. "It may very well be the next big idea," the play's publicity materials breathlessly affirm. "If it's right, this is going to be very important," says Hudson. "It just makes so much sense," says Jenny Greeman, an assistant director. "I hope it's entertaining as well as groundbreaking."
Landowne is more measured. "I think it's going to be unlike any Midsummer I've ever seen."
But does she believe it? "I believe that one can do what one wants with Shakespeare," she says, deftly deflecting the question. "I don't hold all of John's ideas, but I want to open the door to possibility. I don't know if it's true, but I'm interested in a world that could believe it."
Midsummer Night's Dream; A Comic Jewish Satire runs March 28 through April 1 at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street, 212-868-4444
http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0713,wallace,76172,13.html
--
lyra
____________________
That's Miss Shakespeare to You
A new play wants to convince you that the Bard was black, Jewish, and female
by Julia Wallace
March 23rd, 2007 7:13 PM
A middle-aged British man named John Hudson wants to convince you that Shakespeare was actually not a middle-aged British man named Shakespeare, but a black Jewish woman named Amelia Bassano. He has spent the past five years compiling a huge body of research�enough, he hopes, to prove that Bassano wrote all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. This spring, his work is finally coming to a head: He's shopping an 800-page book to various publishers and spearheading a new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that takes its cues from his theory.
...he first began to detect what he says are hidden Jewish elements in the plays and embarked upon a search for an author who might have put them there. This is nothing new�for as long as Shakespeare has been celebrated, his identity has been in doubt�but Amelia Bassano might be the unlikeliest candidate ever proposed. She was one of the first female poets in England but is best known because of a now discredited theory that she was Shakespeare's muse, the Dark Lady referred to in his sonnets. It is not widely believed that she was black; still, Hudson thinks she was the Dark Lady as well as the author of the sonnets. Why would she write the sonnets to herself? "Well, why would she not write the sonnets to herself?" he counters with a puzzled stare.
Hudson bases much of his theory on references in Shakespeare's works to music and Hebrew words that he could not have been familiar with; Bassano, on the other hand, came from a family of musicians and had Jewish roots. But the most incontrovertible piece of evidence, according to Hudson, is the fact that each time a dying swan�perhaps a metaphor for the poet�appears in Shakespeare's work, there is a character present who bears a name associated with Bassano. "The probability that these signatures are not a coincidence is 99.999999999999999999 percent," he declares. "Eighteen decimal places."
Somewhat predictably, Hudson has been having some trouble getting his proposal accepted (or even examined) by more mainstream scholars. He is frustrated by the fact that not a single English professor at Columbia has been willing to talk to him. "They'll just tell you it's rubbish," he predicts. "That's what always happens with new industry models."
Alan Stewart, a professor of 16th-century literature at Columbia, is quick to declare that the theory "has no validity whatsoever," but he admits to being tickled by Hudson's choice of Amelia Bassano. "He's picked somebody who is quite interesting in her own right, and who deserves a lot more time, so in a sort of strange sense I'm glad. But this is just incredibly marginal."
Try telling that to the Dark Lady Players. The entire production is surrounded by an aura of evangelism. "It may very well be the next big idea," the play's publicity materials breathlessly affirm. "If it's right, this is going to be very important," says Hudson. "It just makes so much sense," says Jenny Greeman, an assistant director. "I hope it's entertaining as well as groundbreaking."
Landowne is more measured. "I think it's going to be unlike any Midsummer I've ever seen."
But does she believe it? "I believe that one can do what one wants with Shakespeare," she says, deftly deflecting the question. "I don't hold all of John's ideas, but I want to open the door to possibility. I don't know if it's true, but I'm interested in a world that could believe it."
Midsummer Night's Dream; A Comic Jewish Satire runs March 28 through April 1 at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street, 212-868-4444
http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0713,wallace,76172,13.html
--
lyra
lyra
Mar 24, 2007, 3:44:22 PM3/24/07
to hlas-i...@googlegroups.com
______________________________
Our view is certainly that she didn't!
______________________________
In a way it would be nice if a woman had written it! ; )
wouldn't it...
My view and that of most (?) here
is that Christopher (Kit) Marlowe is the writer.
_______________________________________
I also have a liking for presenting
Henry Percy
Earl of Northumberland
as the author.
Well, why not......
__________________________________________________--
lyra
Our view is certainly that she didn't!
______________________________
In a way it would be nice if a woman had written it! ; )
wouldn't it...
My view and that of most (?) here
is that Christopher (Kit) Marlowe is the writer.
_______________________________________
I also have a liking for presenting
Henry Percy
Earl of Northumberland
as the author.
Well, why not......
__________________________________________________
lyra
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