Page dealing with Joe Sobran's writings on Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford and his authorshop of works ascribed to William Shakespeare; logo for Sobran's -- The Real News of the Month

The Shakespeare Library

 

Listed are a few of Joe Sobran’s writings on Shakespeare, on productions of Shakespeare, and especially on the Shakespeare authorship question, along with links to pieces not maintained on this site. Related pieces appear at the end of the list.

The primary text, of course, is Joe’s book, Alias Shakespeare. Unfortunately, the publisher of the book is out of stock, and there is no availability date. We will be sure to alert you when the book is again available.

By the way, if any readers know of other essays by Joe on the Internet dealing with Shakespeare that are not listed below, please be sure to drop the webmaster a line. I think I have them all listed, but the Internet is quite vast and I could easily have missed one or two.


The Lady Is a Man
The admission that whoever wrote these poems had some homosexual experience means that the sonnets are about real experiences.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of August 28, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Special Edition
Jonathan Bate’s edition is incomparably superior to all the rest. His knowledge of textual problems and previous commentary seems to me prodigious in its detail and thoroughness.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of May 22, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Sobran Method:
A True Story

Instilling a reverence for the Bard is the time-tested way of making kids loathe him
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of May 3, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
A Time for Digression
William Shakespeare was the first dramatist ever to write immortal comedies as well as tragedies. And he didn’t keep them apart.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of April 19, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
You Be the Judge
Quotations from the Bard
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of April 3, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Shakespeare Bigots
According to Wells’s way of thinking, the greater the number of people who disagree with you, and the more various their reasons and alternatives, the stronger your own position must be.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of March 22, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
A Coriolanus
in Our Future?

A man who can seldom speak in public
without causing a riot.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of March 8, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Fun of Falstaff
He is master of the situation,
not its butt.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of February 22, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Fine-Filed Phrases
Notice how much Shakespeare can say in ten words or fewer.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of February 22, 2007; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Hamlet’s Lame
Creator

The Bad Quarto reflects an early version of the “Shakespearean” play by its actual author.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of October 3, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
My Ilk and I
Defenders of the Stratford man’s authorship of the poems frequently resort to the ad hominem argument.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of June 29, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Hamlet
That Never Was

Nobody is as credulous as an expert with a pet hypothesis.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of June 22, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare and
Ms. Grundy

The freedom Shakespeare had that we don’t.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of June 1, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespearean
Masterpiece

The one movie production of a Shakespeare
play I like
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of April 13, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
How to Handle a Woman
Richard III offers hope to the rest of us.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of January 17, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Bard in Retirement
Simple common sense might have saved them from embarrassing errors.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of January 3, 2006; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Reflections of a Conspirator
Original insights are a little hard
to come by.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of December 15, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
What’s in a Pronoun?
My seventh-grade English teacher and a key to the Shakespeare-authorship question [;-)]
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of December 8, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Clare Asquith, Shakespeare, and the Catholic Question
Coded Catholic sympathies
  •   Washington Watch column of September 29, 2005; reprinted with permission of the The Wanderer
Hamnet’s Father
We are asked to believe that he spoke of fatherhood, but not of his son.
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of September 13, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Queer Bard?
First Folio Fundamentalism
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of August 30, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Lear’s Fool
Everything changes when Lear mutters to himself, “I did her wrong.”
  •   “Reactionary Utopian” column of August 18, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Language of Lear
The language, like the story itself, overwhelms us.
  •   column of June 16, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Kyd Stuff
There’s no evidence that the “Ur-Hamlet” play ascribed to Thomas Kyd ever existed.
  •   column of May 12, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare’s
“Early” Poems

Poems that show that the dating of the plays is wrong — and that William of Stratford isn’t the author
  •   reprinted from the January 2005 (Volume 12, Number 1) issue of SOBRANS
The Baker Street Shakespeareans
What two fictious characters have in common
  •   column of February 10, 2005; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Death of Shakespeare
How Edward de Vere came to give away the greatest literary reputation of modern times
  •   column of June 24, 2004; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Burton’s Lost Hamlet
A curious production
  •   column of January 22, 2004; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Bard’s Orphans
A major contribution to Shakespeare studies showing that Oxford is a major figure in the “Elizabethen sonnet craze.”
  •   reprinted from the April 2003 (Volume 10, Number 4) issue of SOBRANS
Titus and Lucrece
These two works could not have been written in the same year.
  •   column of May 1, 2003; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Olivier and His Successors
There are versions that make Olivier’s seem a little old-fashioned, but they have none of his magnificence, his panther fury, his genius for making a line of Shakespeare sound like a trumpet blast.
  •   column of May 1, 2003; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare’s Social Life
Oxford seems to have known everybody the Stratford man didn’t but should have.
 •  column of April 17, 2003; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare and the Directors
Only one director takes you into the Bard’s world, where the feudal and the supernatural mix.
 •  column of November 12, 2002; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Rejoice!
A cottage industry of Shakespeare forgeries
 •  column of June 20, 2002; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare and the Snobs
If William of Stratford had been a genius, he might have written wonderful plays, but they would have been very different from Hamlet, even if they were greater.
 •  column of April 9, 2002; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Whose Testimony?
Who ya gonna believe? Shakespeare’s friends or Shakespeare?
 •  column of April 17, 2001; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare and DNA
Whatcha gonna believe? What the experts tell ya or the evidence of your own eyes?
 •  column of March 8, 2001; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
The Spirit of Falstaff
Harold Clarke Goddard and The Meaning of Shakespeare
 •  reprinted from the December 2000 (Volume 7, Number 12) issue of SOBRANS
Making Sense of Shakespeare
A discussion of William Shakespeare: The Man behind the Genius by Anthony Holden
 •  column of July 27, 2000; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
David Kathman and the “Historical Record”
A reply to David Kathman’s review of Alias Shakespeare
 •  an original essay, not published elsewhere
The Rivals
John Gielgud was the Bard’s humble servant.
 •  column of May 23, 2000; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Shakespeare’s Folks
Why it matters who “Shakespeare’s” uncle was
 •  reprinted from the March 2000 (Volume 7, Number 3) issue of SOBRANS
Happy Birthday, “Shakespeare”!
Edward de Vere was born 450 years ago yesterday. Sooner or later, the scholars are going to have to acknowledge that he was Shakespeare.
 •  column of April 13, 2000; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Who Are the Snobs?
The abysmal intellectual standards that prevail in academic Shakespeare studies
 •  column of February 29, 2000; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Honoring the True Bard
Why it matters who “Shakespeare” was
 •  column of February 24, 2000; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
Giving Away the Game
How Stratfordians implicitly accept Oxfordian claims
 •  column of November 25, 1999; reprinted with permission of the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
How Old Was Oxford’s Daughter, and When Did William Lose His Hair?
A reply to Alan Nelson
 •  an original essay, not published elsewhere
Debating Shakespeare
In a debate, always notice what your opponents don’t say.
 •  column of July 8, 1999:
reprinted with permission of the Universal Press Syndicate
Who Done Shakespeare?
Experts literally don’t know.
 •  column of March 18, 1999;
reprinted with permission of the Universal Press Syndicate
Introduction to Emaricdulfe  •  reprinted from the January 1998 (Volume 5, Number 1) issue of SOBRANS
The Mystery of Emaricdulfe
Shakespearean parallels in a sonnet cycle by an unknown poet
 •  reprinted from the January 1998 (Volume 5, Number 1) issue of SOBRANS


Essays by Joe Sobran not maintained on this site:

Bible Holds Proof of Shakespeare's Identity
A Universal Press column, from July 1993

The End of Stratfordianism
Another reply to Alan Nelson; not identical to How Old Was Oxford’s Daughter, and When Did William Lose His Hair? above

The Problem of “The Funeral Elegy”

Shake-speare’s Sonnets are Stratfordians’ Achilles’ Heel
This article was first published in the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, Spring 1998.

“Shakespeare” Revealed in Oxford’s Poetry
From the De Vere Society Newsletter, January 1996.

Shakespeare’s Disgrace
First published in the Spring 1997 issue of the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter.




Related materials:

Reviews of Alias Shakespeare:


An account of Joe’s appearance at Boston College in October of 1997,

Other pieces on the Shakespeare authorship question are:
  • Tom Bethell’s Atlantic Monthly contribution to the issue (This article is available only to subscribers of The Atlantic Monthly.)
  • Irvin Matus’s reply to Bethell (This article is available only to subscribers of The Atlantic Monthly.)
  • Tom Bethell’s reply to Matus (This article is available only to subscribers of The Atlantic Monthly.)
  • Recent Developments in the Case for Oxford as Shakespeare by Peter E. Moore, a paper presented to the 20th Annual Conference of the Shakespeare Oxford Society (October 10–13, 1996)
• Return to the Home page.

Links:

The Shakespeare-Oxford Society

The Chicago Oxford Society

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