There will be a panel debate in London this April 30th on the Shakespeare Authorship Question, just one more sign that the question (and the debate surrounding it) will not be going away anytime soon. On a private listserve there was some discussion about this upcoming debate, and a comment expressing wariness over the sentence, “But is this really a significant cultural phenomenon, or just a minor academic squabble?” My reaction to that same sentence is not wariness, but rather that it sounds more like progress. For me, the right question is being posed (“is this a significant cultural phenomenon?”), and the right answer to that question would be, “Yes, it is.” The Shakespeare authorship question is really just a mirror of much broader questions about our own culture, especially significant during these troubled times in which we now live: just what is the truth about anything (and who decides?), just how many secrets are there behind all those closed doors (and how can we get at them, and should we get at them?), and, finally, just who writes history anyway? These are all things worthy of some serious consideration, by everyone. As many of us engaged in this debate have learned over the years, the truth about who wrote Shakespeare is just a beginning, a gateway into understanding not just what he and his works are all about, but also what history itself is all about. It is not a minor squabble, it’s a big deal.
From the Facebook page:
The Shakespeare Authorship Question – for over 200 years a number of people have openly questioned whether William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon wrote the plays and poems that have been attributed to him. But is this really a significant cultural phenomenon, or just a minor academic squabble?
On 30th April 2014 at the Ye Olde Cock Tavern, a panel of experts on the subject will explain to the general public why exactly it does matter who wrote Shakespeare, the details of the question and it’s broader relevance to society at large.
On the panel so far we have William Leahy of Brunel University in London, Ros Barber (author of “The Marlowe Papers” and “Shakespeare: The Evidence”) and Alan H.Nelson (author of “Monstrous Adversary”) along with actor and writer Alain English of the Central London Debating Society.
Follow the link to the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/509741549144377/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&source=1
everreader 
Feb 19, 2014 @ 10:46:20
The right question certainly is: What is the truth about Shakespeare (and who decides?), and how can we get at how many secrets ?
But Mr. Boyle, believing in Edward de Vere , doesn’t prefer to start more modern panel debates such as
1) Can Earl of Oxford’s death year 1604, the plausibility abyss for his Shakespeare authorship theory , ever be surpassed ??
2) Wouldn’it be wise to take eventually a step forword and discuss the advanced Marlowe theory published june 2011 (http://www.der-wahre-shakespeare.com/home-english.html)
Feb 20, 2014 @ 07:59:04
Hi, thanks for your comment, but no, I don’t think a “more modern panel” (whatever that is) is called for. It sounds to me, with the likes of William Leahy and Alan Nelson on hand, that no one author will be promoted over another, so maybe they could at least agree that it’s not just a “minor academic squabble.”
As for your two points, first let’s just point out that the post-1604 argument is one of the biggest canards in the whole debate, one of Stanley Wells’ favorites but shame on anyone else who uses it. And it is now thoroughly discredited. See Roger Stritmatter and Lynne Kositsky’s work at http://shakespearestempest.com.
And finally, the “advanced Marlowe theory?” No, Marlowe and Bacon were passed by long ago, and the authorship debate today owes all its vitality and persuasiveness to the strong case for Edward de Vere as a real life Hamlet. Without Charlton Ogburn’s 1984 The Mysterious William Shakespeare there would be no real debate today … it would indeed still be in the backwaters somewhere.
Feb 20, 2014 @ 13:27:19
Come on.- The fatal “post-1604 argument” is by no means discredited. Your quotations of Oxfordians are not helpful. You cannot give us plausible arguments, why it needed 20 years (1604-1623), to suddenly bring out the huge hidden treasury of edward de vere‘s unpublished works…this makes no sense ….and let alone the missing genius of edward as a playwright …….there are much more plausible explanations…
…as long you cultivate your prejudice about Marlowe and have not even started to study the “advanced Marlowe theory?” my conviction is, the authorship debate will endlessly perpetuate itself, There will be only a progress if you accept the „advanced Marlowe hypothesis, at least as a working hyptohesis ( “…lets assume „survival of Marlowe“ at the price of his loss of identity and name was real” ) and look what an abundant amount of unsolved question suddenly can be answered (see examples – QUIZ http://www.der-wahre-shakespeare.com/quiz-english.html)
Mar 28, 2014 @ 09:32:07
Dear Sir / Madam
It is with great pleasure I write to announce, the Martin Droeshout engraving has been decoded and with that happy note, the author of the Shakespeare works revealed. Visit http://www.shakespeareauthorship.co.uk to learn more.
Kind regards
Andrew Golding