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First Students Graduate in Shakespeare Authorship Studies



On Thursday 23 July the first four students to complete the MA Shakespeare Authorship Studies at Brunel University graduated. They were presented by Dr William Leahy in the School of Arts Graduation ceremony. The four students - Susan Sheridan, Amelia Mulley, Corina Pike and Rishpal Birdi - started the course in Sept 2007 and completed in Sept 2008. The course is currently running with students who formed its second cohort. The new (and third) cohort of students will start in Sept 2009. Congratulations to the four students whose graduation marks a world first in terms of Authorship Studies.
www.brunel.ac.uk/courses/pg/cdata/s/
ShakespeareAuthorshipStudiesMA



New Publications

Go to the webpage below in late August 2009 to find a special issue of the journal "Critical Survey" (Volume 21, number 2). This issue, entitled "Questioning Shakespeare" is edited by William Leahy and contains essays which challenge the dating and authorship of some of Shakespeare's plays.
www.berghahnbooks.com/journals/cs/



Professor Stanley Wells and Mark Rylance debate the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt

On 27 September, 2007, Professor Stanley Wells, Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford, criticized Mark Rylance, Chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust, and Sir Derek Jacobi for signing the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt in an article in The Stage magazine. You can read Prof. Wells' letter, followed by Mark's reply, plus a point-by-point rebuttal to Wells' criticisms of the Declaration written by the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition, on its website, www.DoubtAboutWill.org, or you can read the full transcript here, as a pdf document.


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MA Shakespeare Authorship Studies at Brunel University

This MA programme, the first of its kind in the world, tackles and takes seriously Shakespeare and the subject of Authorship in all its diversity. The programme examines ways in which Shakespeare has been mythologised and how issues of collaboration change our notion of authorship, value and authority. The programme also examines the enormously controversial phenomenon of the Shakespeare Authorship Question and ponders why this question causes such controversy.

Course Content

The programme will begin with a Research methodologies module, which will involve understanding strategies necessary for deep research in this subject area. Another module will examine the ways in which Shakespeare has been made into the "cultural hero" that he is today. This will be achieved through a close analysis of the historical developments and forces which gave rise to the perceived need, or at least desire for a national and global icon/genius. The issue of Shakespeare and collaboration will also form an area of interest on the course. This will involve an examination of the concept of collaboration itself. A subsequent close textual analysis of a number of Shakespeare's writings will show that they contain the work of other writers.

The phenomenon of the Shakespeare Authorship Question will also be studied. The aim is not to promote an alternative candidate as the author of Shakespeare's work. Rather, it is to analyse the actual social and cultural phenomenon that is the Authorship Question itself. Why that Question is now more popular than ever amongst the general public will be an important area of discussion.

Download detailed course description
www.brunel.ac.uk/courses/arts/shakespeare
www.brunel.ac.uk/courses/
www.brunel.ac.uk/courses/pg/cdata/s/
ShakespeareAuthorshipStudiesMA

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