Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

James A. Warren James Warren, retired diplomat and 2020 Oxfordian of the Year, presented "The Oxfordian Movement and Academia" at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship's virtual spring symposium "The Shakespeare Attribution" on April 10, 2021.  Warren's discussion is available on the SOF YouTube channel under the title, "SOF Spring International Online Symposium 2021" . Warren's presentation is introduced at minute 33:48. In his talk Warren gave an overview of his perspective on the status of the Shakespeare authorship question informed by his six-year study of the history of the Oxfordian movement following the publication of J.T. Looney's Shakespeare Identified in 1920. Warren identifies institutional resistance as the last bastion of Stratfordian defense and suggests recruiting natural allies -- historians, for example -- as one way to breach the walls of academe. “There needs to be a civil war take place in Shakespeare studies,” Warren sai

  Michael Dudley, MLIS MCP Michael Dudley, MLIS MCP -- Community Outreach Librarian at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada -- presented "The Stratfordian Belief System, Epistemic Injustice, and Academic Freedom" at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship's virtual spring symposium "The Shakespeare Attribution on April 10, 2021. Dudley's discuss is availabe on the SOF YouTube channel under the title, "SOF Spring International Online Symposium 2021" . Dudley's presentation is introduced at hour 01:03:44. In his presentation, Dudley argued that ". . . by calling [authorship] skeptics "conspiracy theorists" and comparing them to Holocaust deniers rather than addressing the substance of their claims, orthodox Shakespeare academics risk committing acts of epistemic vice, injustice and oppression, as well as foreclosing productive lines of inquiry in their discipline." By categorizing the errors of the academy, Dudley's work gi

  We are pleased to welcome longtime Oberon member Tom Townsend as a guest blogger with his article "Is Shakespeare a Pseudonym?" L. Theil           Oberon member Thomas L. Townsend of Seattle, WA Is Shakespeare a Pseudonym? by Thomas L.Townsend This is not as preposterous a question as we’ll soon see: Thomas Vicars (c1590-c1641), was an early Jacobean vicar, who received a B.A. and subsequently an M.A. after attending Oxford University. (Note 1) Both degrees concentrated in Classical Languages, Greek and Latin.   He became a Vicar. To be clear, all vicars in early Jacobean England were in a difficult position, just as they had been in the Elizabethan era. All vicars, of course, were required to be completely honest all the time. This was not simply a matter of conscience but had also been mandated by the late Queen Elizabeth I. (Note 2) Further, vicars were required to answer to the Ecclesiastic Court. Here’s the situation: The Ecclesiastic Court reported directly to king Ja

Chloe Buse on the set of "The Earl of Oxford's March -- Remixed!" Indiana-based writer/actor Greg Buse won the 2020 Oxfordie for a twerky, little, rap video, "The Earl of Oxford's March -- Remixed!" ,  produced by Candy Bank Films in Bloomington, Indiana. Julie Bianchi, chair of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship's "Who Wrote Shakespeare?" video-contest committee, announced the $1000 award on October 2, 2020  at the SOF virtual Shakespeare Authorship Symposium, broadcast from the August Family Vinyards in Napa County, California. Buse said, "I was watching the symposium live, along with my family members who are in the video, and all of us were thrilled!" "The Earl of Oxford's March -- Remixed!" When not working his main hustle as Indiana University presidential speechwriter -- crafting the message for IU President Michael McRobbie -- Buse wrote and performed the Oxfordian rap along with family cast members: spouse Nata