Skip to main content

Showerman says teach authorship at local universities lifelong learning programs

by Linda Theil

Shakespeare Fellowship trustee and immediate past president Earl Showerman  kicked off his fourth year teaching the Shakespeare authorship question at Southern Oregon University’s Osher Lifelong LearningInstitute with a class titled, titled, "The Shakespeare Authorship Challenge: State of the Debate 2013". Following the first day of class on April 17, 2013, Showerman said:
I have about 20 in class, half-of-whom are already converts. Not exactly preaching to the converted, but it is fun to see how people really light up when they get an idea about what is at stake and the terms of the discussion. . . . The SBT (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) polemic, “Shakespeare Bites Back” was discussed yesterday as a way [of] showing them how threatened and vitriolic are our critics. We'll use Steve McClarran's second edition of  I Come to BuryShaksper, (2011) (available later this month I understand) as a primary text.  
Showerman also intends to discuss the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s refutation of arguments against Stratfordian authorship, ShakespeareBeyond Doubt, to be published this month (May 31, 2013) by Cambridge University Press. The weekly class runs until May 29, 2013. For those who are not fortunate to attend, a comprehensive and fascinating syllabus of Showerman’s class including an extensive bibliography and links to Showerman’s published research on Greek influences in Shakespeare is available on the SOU site at: http://www.sou.edu/olli/docs/olli-classes-lang102-shakespeare-syllabus.pdf The weekly class runs until May 29. Showerman encourages other authorship researchers to investigate teaching this topic as a lifelong learning class at their local universities:
Oxfordians who have a repertoire of teaching experience, or simply an avid interest in the argument over the Shakespeare attribution, should get involved with the university or college lifelong learning programs in their area. Volunteer to teach a course and use what is already available in print and on-line to help support the effort. Open-minded elders, who love Shakespeare and have a cultivated skepticism, are ideal targets for our enterprise.
Earl Showerman is a retired emergency physician -- a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Medical School. Over the past decade, he has published and presented a number of papers on the topic of Shakespeare’s Greek literary sources and on the playwright’s medical knowledge. This past November, he gave the keynote address at the Shakespearean Authorship Trust Conference at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. His most recent publication is a letter published in Brief Chronicles, Vol. IV explicating a point in his article, “Shakespeare’s Greater Greek” published in the previous volume of Brief Chronicles. This work is available online at:
Letter by Earl Showerman in Brief Chronicles Vol. IV (2012-13) 137
"Shakespeare’s Greater Greek: Macbeth and Aeschylus’Oresteia", Earl Showerman 37-70 Brief Chronicles Vol. III (2011)

Course description from the SOU/OLLI website:
LANG102 The Shakespeare Authorship Challenge: State of the Debate 2013
7 Sessions Ashland: Wed, 1-3:00, Room E April 17-May 29 Earl Showerman
This spring both the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition are publishing competing books, one intended to defend and the other to deconstruct the traditional attribution of the Shakespeare canon. The course will examine these and other recent publications and projects that address the Shakespeare authorship question. The course will include Power
Point presentations, videos, and discussions based on the recently published critical polemic, Come to Bury Shaksper (2011). Optional Material: I Come to Bury Shakesper by Steven McClarren (2011), ISBN: 9781469956527. This is available as an e-book or by print-on-demand. . . . 


See also on this topic:

Popular posts from this blog

Was King Richard III a Control Freak? Science News ... from universities, journals, and other research organizations   Mar. 4, 2013 — University of Leicester psychologists believe Richard III was not a psychopath -- but he may have had control freak tendencies. University of Leicester psychologists have made an analysis of Richard III's character -- aiming to get to the man behind the bones. Professor Mark Lansdale, Head of the University's School of Psychology, and forensic psychologist Dr Julian Boon have put together a psychological analysis of Richard III based on the consensus among historians relating to Richard's experiences and actions. They found that, while there was no evidence for Shakespeare's depiction of Richard III as a psychopath, he may have had "intolerance to uncertainty syndrome" -- which may have manifested in control freak tendencies. The academics presented their findings on Saturday, March 2 at the University

What's a popp'rin' pear?

James Wheaton reported yesterday in the Jackson Citizen Patriot that the Michigan Shakespeare Festival high school tour of Romeo and Juliet was criticized for inappropriate content -- " So me take issue with sexual innuendoes in Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s High School Tour performances of ‘Romeo & Juliet’" : Western [High School] parent Rosie Crowley said she was upset when she heard students laughing about sexual content in the play afterwards. Her son didn’t attend the performance Tuesday because of another commitment, she said.  “I think the theater company should have left out any references that were rated R,” Crowley said. “I would say that I’ve read Shakespeare, and what I was told from the students, I’ve never read anything that bad.”  She said she objected to scenes that involved pelvic thrusting and breast touching and to a line in which Mercutio makes suggestive comments to Romeo after looking up the skirt of a female. The problem with cutting out the naug

Winkler lights the match

by Linda Theil When asked by an interviewer why all the experts disagree with her on the legitimacy of the Shakespeare authorship question, journalist and author Elizabeth Winkler  calmly replied, "You've asked the wrong experts." * With that simple declaration Winkler exploded the topic of Shakespearean authorship forever. Anti-Stratfordians need no smoking gun, no convincing narrative, no reason who, how, when, or why because within the works lies the unassailable argument: Shakespeare's knowledge. Ask the lawyers. Ask the psychologists. Ask the librarians. Ask the historians. Ask the dramaturges. Ask the mathematicians. Ask the Greek scholars. Ask the physicists. Ask the astronomers. Ask the courtiers. Ask the bibliophiles. Ask the Italians. Ask the French. Ask the Russians. Ask the English. Ask everyone. Current academic agreement on a bevy of Shakespearean collaborators springs from an unspoken awareness of how much assistance the Stratfordian presumptive would h