Jse 37: 2 Summer 2023
The Journal of Scientific Exploration 37:2: Special Issue on the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Researchers Present Diverse Evidence Against the Historical Man from Stratford
The Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE), an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, has
published its summer issue, which is specially devoted to what is known as the Shakespeare
Authorship Question (SAQ).
In the issue, ten historians and literary scholars present evidence that casts serious doubts
about who actually authored the monumental works credited to William Shakespeare.
Suggesting that the name is actually a pseudonym for someone else, this position has been
endorsed by numerous artists and scholars over the decades ranging from Walt Whitman and
Mark Twain to Sigmund Freud, Tyrone Guthrie (founder of Canada's Stratford Shakespeare
Festival) and Mark Rylance founding Artistic Director of the reconstructed Globe Theatre in
London.
Tradition credits a businessman from an essentially illiterate family in Stratford-Upon-Avon
named "Will Shakspere" as being the author of the Bard's 37 plays, two major narratives in
verse, 154 sonnets, and the man who introduced upwards of 1,700 original words into the
English language. However, many historians, literary researchers, and theater professionals
over the centuries have been enormously skeptical of the attribution. The debate that has
ensued―with several hundred books having now been published on the subject―is at the core
of the SAQ.
"Academic honesty and the historical record do matter," said Don Rubin, Professor Emeritus of
Theatre at Toronto's York University and Guest Editor of the issue. President of the
Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (doubtaboutwill.org) Prof. Rubin argues that "from an
intellectual standpoint, the real conspiracy theory is why those who hold with the Stratford man
as author are so absolutely unwilling to read contradictory research in their own field and to
encourage openness about these alternative ideas within academe. Most simply don't know the
depth and detail of the alternative arguments."
While the JSE does not officially endorse particular claims related to any frontier science topic,
its editorial team did agree that there was more than ample evidence in this instance to open up
the SAQ to scholars in other fields. Thus, this special JSE issue about what has been termed by
many 'history's greatest mystery'.
You can freely download JSE's Special SAQ issue here:
https: //journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/issue/view/93
About the Journal of Scientific Exploration:
A publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration, JSE is an open-access, platinum peer-
reviewed journal that is devoted to maverick or frontier science topics. It is freely available
online at www.journalofscientificexploration.org.
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