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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help


Chuck(le)

Thanks, ref.

Look, Chuckie, just because a question is difficult, that doesn't
mean we can't attempt to answer it. Life is full of hard matters
we can only respond to tentatively. You reaction is to cry "too
hard!" and head for Mars.

I've long ago agreed that there is no independent evidence for just
about everything concerning WS, including his authorship of the
works in question. And even if there were it's still dismissable on all
kinds of grounds by those who wish to do so. Even his name on some
of the published plays can be doubted--ask the ref.

The point is, if you claim that a piece of writing can mean anything
you (or I) say it means, you're saying in effect that it means nothing.
The sonnets (or plays) become blank checks; write in the value
you want.

Let's try another tack. OK, WS wasn't gay/bi/hetero. We don't
know what he was. Then let's say that in the first 127 sonnets
he created a fictional gay speaker who has a fictional gay
relationship with a fictional gay recipient. Do you accept
that?

Then this fictional fellow falls in love with a fictional dark
lady much his junior. They have a fictional affair and then she
dumps him for his fictional gay pal, so our poet invents some
despairing, heart-broken poems and takes a fictional trip to
the non-fictional town of Bath.

Agreed?

Posted by Professor Mike on April 17, 1997 at 09:57:10
In Reply to "can i step in as ref for a sec" posted by Bill Routhier on April 16, 1997 at 08:53:11


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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help