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Please try to read before posting such nonsense

You wrote:

>>> The 'bad Quartos'
weren't bad due to typos, if that's your contention. They
were pirated editions, bottlegs, if you will. <<<

"Bootlegs."

I did not wrote that. Please refrain from putting your
words in my keyboard.

By the way (if you did not know) most of them are
full of garbled speehes, transferred lines, misplaced lines,
borrowed phrases from other works, mislineated blank verse.
In addition, they tend to have the best stage directions .

>>> Then we have the safe distinction from Mr. Spielbauer
between writing about gay and being it. <<<

There can be a distinction, as many heterosexual
authors have demonstrated. Or, are you trying to
suggest that every author who has created a gay character,
or a gay personae has been gay?

>>> One seems bad and the other OK. <<<

Since I never suggested the above, or implied it in any
way, you are now engaging in poppycock which rivals that
of the original author, here.

>>> Is this sound literary thought, or just plain old bigotry? <<<

I certainly have no idea, as I did not post the above. Those
are your words only.

>>>> He also talks about the
difficulty of getting anything published, (using the word mayhaps
to start his sentence) referring to the sonnets. OK. The
sonnets are talked about in print years before they are
published. <<<<

True. Does the above have some point? Many of the plays
are "talked about" in print long before they are finally published.
So are many sonnets of other contemporaneous poets, including so
many which were never published in the poet's lifetime.

Do you need examples?

So... your point is?

>>>Many of shakespeare's plays are
published. <<<

Yes, seven years after he died. Does this have some point?

>>> But there is some problem, some difficulty WS would have in
getting them published. Hmmm. Can't think of why at the moment.<<<

Like the plays, a few of the individual sonnets did "escape"
the author in (apparently) pirated versions. You did know that,
did you not? You also knew that the 1609 printing was probably
not authorized?

Publishing was still a young (and laborious) industry
during the career of William Shakespeare. Thus, it
was relatively difficult to get works published. Publication
was still rare. Printers would not easily invest the time
(and financial risk) in publishing that which might not sell.
Also, the London Company of Staioners had a patent from the
Crown to restrict the number of presses operating in London,
and even the total number of "books" that could be printed.
Also, in 1606, Parliament passed a law forbidding references to
"the Deity" in any works.

It is also possible that Shakespeare simply preferred to delay
publication of his sonnets. This has been suggested by David
Bevington, among others. "Publication" he points out "was not
exactly 'genteel.' The writing of poetry was often looked upon
as an avocation. Many such authors expressed dismay when their
verses were pirated into print." (-Bevington's "Complete works..."
3rd Ed., 1980). One excellent example of a poet who
professed this attitude was John Donne.

Furthermore, we do not know if the sonnets were merely an
academic exercise, or a mere "literary diversion" for
the poet. We have no idea if he desired them published.
We have no idea if he tried, and was rejected, or just
never got around to it (something which many great authors
and poets have certainly been guilty of).

Again, I am not suggesting that one of the above is
necessarily Shakespeare's "reason." However, the facts
these suppositions are based on are true. To suggest
that one of them "IS" the truth is to be guilty of
the error made by the original author of the "poppycock,"
above.

>>>> You talk about evidence, shoclarship, ethics and honesty, but there
isn't any evidence of any of them in your posting. <<<

Now, you are quite incorrect. By the way, is it
"honest" to suggest that "many of Shakespeare's plays are
published," when the fact is (so far as we know) that he
made no attempts to publish them, and many (at least 18)
were not published at all until after his death? Is this
a failure in your "evidence," your "shoclarship," [SIC],
your "ethics," or your "honesty"?

You wrote:
>>>> ...Just academic flatulence. <<<<

If you had posted anything of any
substance, this might be entertaining.
In the present circumstance, it is
only a bit sad.

• The "Think Before You Type" Homepage

Posted by Bruce Spielbauer on April 13, 1997 at 17:46:44
In Reply to "honesty is a serious word, Bruce" posted by Bill Routhier on April 12, 1997 at 23:12:19

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