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, I 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: