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.