Did a businessman from Stratford-upon-Avon, christened Gulielmus filius JohannesShakspere, really write the plays and poems credited to William Shakespeare?
The community is invited to join law professor Bryan H. Wildenthal as he looks at why there is a Shakespeare Authorship Question, and why compelling circumstantial evidence points to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true author of the Shakespeare canon.
Wildenthal will present Why “Shakespeare” Was Edward de Vere (Earl of Oxford), 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, 21 W. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara.
“Professor Wildenthal, an engaging Oxfordian speaker, will enchant us with the greatest literary detective story ever — who wrote Shakespeare? — when he gives his presentation,” said Norman Cohan, director of the Karpeles.
Wildenthal is professor emeritus at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, where he has taught for more than 20 years. He has also been a visiting professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law and the University of Nice, France.
He earned his AB with honors from Stanford University, and his JD with distinction from Stanford Law School, where he served as a senior editor of the Stanford Law Review.
Wildenthal also serves as vice-president of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to research and discussion of the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
“It is often claimed that no one doubted the Stratfordian authorship theory until hundreds of years after his death,” Wildenthal said. “But when it comes to evidence dating to his own lifetime, there is none that explicitly and personally links Shakspere of Stratford to any literary career.”
Wildenthal has established himself as an independent scholar of the Shakespeare Authorship Question, lecturing frequently on the subject, and has a new book forthcoming on Early Shakespeare Authorship Doubts dating to 1589-1616, during the lifetime of the man from Stratford.
“Many writers during his lifetime expressed doubts about who the author was, often hinting that ‘Shakespeare’ was a pseudonym. The posthumous evidence is ambiguous and highly suspicious, raising still more questions,” said Wildenthal.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum houses a collection of rare literary and historical documents.
On display at the museum for Wildenthal’s presentation will be a rare page with a printing blunder from Shakespeare’s Second Folio; John Milton’s first published poem, An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare — one of only four prized separate copies; one of only four extant signatures of poet Edward Dyer on a letter sending information that Queen Elizabeth has been informed of a plot for freeing Mary Queen of Scots; and several important Queen Elizabeth I historical documents on the Spanish Armada.
“To anyone who wants to know who wrote the immortal Shakespeare plays, come listen, and be marvelously entertained by this compelling presentation. It’s a thrilling man-hunt to find the identity of the true author,” said Cohan.
The Karpeles Library and Museum is open noon-4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. There is never any admission or fee. For information, call 805-962-5322.
— Steven Sabel for Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.