Shakespeare Suppressed: The Uncensored Truth About Shakespeare and His Works [Paperback]

Katherine Chiljan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2011

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE is the most celebrated and most read poet and dramatist in history, but his personal life and artistic life is a mystery. How did he obtain the extensive learning and experience displayed in his works? When were his plays written and why were his works so often pirated by printers? Although publicly lauded during his lifetime, why was Shakespeare's death not noticed by those in the literary world near the time that it had occurred? These are only a few problems that the Shakespeare professor cannot answer definitively after two centuries of scholarship.

Much contemporary evidence, however, is available that can shed light on many of these problems -- evidence that gets ignored because it does not fit the experts' picture of Shakespeare. This evidence overwhelmingly indicates that 'William Shakespeare' was the great author's pen name, and that he was a nobleman. It shows that he wrote decades earlier than believed, and initially for the private entertainment of Queen Elizabeth I and her court.

The pen name idea is easy enough to grasp, but it becomes more complex and tangled by the fact that there was another man, christened 'William Shakspere', who lived during the same period. A resident of Stratford-upon-Avon, this man was involved in acting companies and theaters in London. Not one shred of evidence, however, proves the 'Stratford Man' was the great author during his lifetime, and neither he nor his descendents ever made such a claim. These two very different men merged into one identity after both of their deaths, and it was no accident, as this book will explain.

The lack of hard facts about Shakespeare and his career has caused the experts to write biographies full of fiction and fantasy. Those who love and appreciate Shakespeare deserve better. Fully documented, Shakespeare Suppressed is a valuable resource for those who want to learn the unadulterated truth about Shakespeare and his works. The book debunks the experts' case for the Stratford Man as the great author, and exposes the misleading preface of the First Folio. Features an appendix detailing 93 'too early' allusions to the plays that destroy orthodox composition dates, and 27 plates.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

KATHERINE CHILJAN (BA History, UCLA) is an independent scholar who has studied the Shakespeare authorship question for over 26 years. She has debated the topic with English professors at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco. Chiljan served as editor of the Shakespeare-Oxford Newsletter, and edited two anthologies: Dedication Letters to the Earl of Oxford, and Letters and Poems of Edward, Earl of Oxford.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Faire Editions; 1st edition (September 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982940548
• ISBN-13: 978-0982940549
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #314,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Standard in Shakespeare Authorship Studies September 10, 2011

By William J. Ray

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'Shakespeare Suppressed', in a graceful, sustained style, analyzes both the original and centuries-long hoaxes clouding who wrote the Shakespeare canon.

The historiographic vacuum at the center of our English literary pantheon has changed considerably in recent years. The Stratford "Shakespeare" story has always been more legend than history. But the quality of the new scholarship by mainly amateur literary historians remains uneven. Except for 'The Shakespeare Guide to Italy' by Richard Paul Roe and 'Shakespeare by Another Name' by Mark Anderson, commercial publishers have not taken a chance on non-academic authorship books. This volume is the most reliable and thorough monograph on the literary identity Ralph Waldo Emerson said was "the first of all literary questions".

Katherine Chiljan uncovers the truth, beyond reasonable doubt, that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote, concealed, and then was blackmailed to relinquish his right as author of the familiar, striking, and eloquent creations known to us as "Shakespeare". It is the work of a lifetime.

The usual dismissive canards--that Oxfordian research is unconventional, the sourcing unreliable, the premises not factually based--cannot succeed against this sometimes astoundingly erudite body of scholarship. The arguments are measured. The index is excellent. The illustrations and overall published quality exceed that of the major houses.

There is a final section entitled 'Conjectures and Dares' that considers the less extensive but still relevant evidence. The author's sense of caution and objectivity differentiates 'Shakespeare Suppressed' from more speculatively inclined works in the field.... Among the latter category, we must include virtually all of Stradfordian biographical studies as the most embarrassing examples. They proceed from a fierce inclination to endorse the legend and therefore stake their credence on the power of customary, rather than verifiable, truth.

There are several appendices. The most consequential presents ninety-three instances of contemporaneous proof that the plays' distinctive language had currency in the Elizabethan culture far too soon for the later-dated Stratford Shakspere play chronology--an average of twelve to fourteen years sooner. This evidence invalidates Shakspere as author on grounds of his being a child when the first plays, later to be known as Shakespearean, appeared at the royal court.

The book's cover painting is of Oxford (1581) a few years after he had returned from Italy, with the inspiration that, give him his motley [clown suit] and he would cleanse the foul body of the diseased world. He would educate his people toward justice and harmony, the earthly glories of God, using his pen as a spear and the stage as the field of contest. Chiljan saw the painting in an auction catalogue, bought it, and thus took custody of an early life portrait of the writer some call the greatest in recorded history.

I recommend 'Shakespeare Suppressed' very highly, but not to read hastily. It is too good a story, one that gives us, at long last, the Shakespearean canon in its actual historical, political, and personally tragic frame. Read more ›

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nightmare dare for Shakespeare professors' orthodoxy November 28, 2011

By Earnest Moncrieff

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Not to be missed. Countless stranded, obscured or new key historical facts are assembled, documented and connected by historian Chiljan in "Shakespeare Suppressed."

One focus of Chiljan's extensive fact-finding targets the myriad puzzles and gaps linking the poet Shake-speare to the 3rd Earl of Southampton. How did printer Thomas Thorpe fare after publishing the 1609 Shake-speare Sonnets in which Southampton, as many orthodox Bard scholars surmise, was likely the Sonnets' Fair Youth? Thorpe's fortunes sank quickly and far. His Sonnet publication was suppressed. Meanwhile, Southampton suffered various jailings and insults after his surprising release from prison (and his wealth/status restoration) by King James I - reversing Southampton's death sentence for his Essex rebellion treason.

Any links here? Indeed there are. Who pushed the 1609 Sonnets to press? SPOILER ALERT: "Shakespeare Suppressed" tabs Southampton as the politically driven driver for Sonnet publication. Such actions in Chiljan's view ironically prompted the Earl of Pembroke (William Herbert, brother to a son-in-law - and nearly one himself - of Edward de Vere) to ramrod the publication of the "First Folio" so as to subsume permanently the identity of the great author into that of the Stratford actor's beard, thereby extinguishing the incendiary Tudor political and succession messages and rumors emanating from those 1609 Sonnets.

After assembling and linking mountains of key facts and interconnections, historian Chiljan presents a "unified solution" to the Sonnets and to related literary, historical and publishing puzzles that stump or are buried by orthodox Shakespearean scholarship. For example, Stratfordian orthodoxy greatly fogs, mislabels or demeans (e.g...., Wells does all three) the "Love's Martyr" and misdates and misinterprets the "Passionate Pilgrim" and "Lover's Complaint" poetry collections, separating them each and all from Shake-speare's 1609 Sonnets. Chiljan reconnects all these poems and illuminates them in their historical context. Faculty lounge fog from Bard orthodoxy will be forever challenged.

Chiljan catalogs many historical gems. One chapter details 14 references to Shakespeare by his contemporaries that Bard orthodoxy ignores or denies. Another chapter documents four plays that satirized the Stratford actor contemporaneously (three plays by Ben Jonson, another play anonymously). Another chapter documents how Shake-speare ridiculed contemporaneously the Stratford actor in his plays ("As You Like It" and "Winter's Tale").

This book has many splendid appendices. E.g., one contains the generally omitted, inconvenient anonymous letter to readers from the 1609 "Troilus and Cressida" quarto that trashed commoners and correctly foretold of a coming Shakespeare printing blight that lasted more than a decade. Appendixed also are: Robert Greene's "Groats-Worth of Wit," a pivotal, misread document of orthodox Bard biography dating; and the "First Folio" prefaces from Ben Jonson and others. A mega appendix documents 93 "premature" allusions to wording choices and themes appearing in subsequently dated Shakespeare plays, thereby demonstrating (i) that the Stratford chap was an avid plagiarizer and "Ur" text looter OR, e.g. (ii) that some of these premature textulations were written earlier and then revised later by the same great author, or that perhaps other writers heard and alluded to such earlier works by the great author.

This book is a Shake-Speare treasure. Gentle reader, please peruse the meaty, fact-turgid text of "Shakespeare Suppressed." Quickly one sees how different this Bard biography is -- assembled by an independent historian instead of a literature instructor whose chair, tenure, career, wealth, peer acceptance, publishing path, social life and faculty lounge status may all depend integrally on negotiating hoops and collecting smiles from Stratfordiana. Read more ›

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars In the absence of facts we have theories May 17, 2012

By L. Power TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

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There is a reason why conspiracy theories are called conspiracy theories, not conspiracy facts, and that is because they are unproven, or not proven yet, and may never be proven.

Now we have a large body of work on DeVere, about 200 books on Amazon, yet almost no books of his poetry. I read as much as I could of Anderson's book Shakespeare by another name, and found it annoying, because he clearly has difficulty distinguishing between fact and fantasy. If one does not have a good understanding of facts, it's easy to get carried away with fantasy.

Mostly, the arguments are metaphorical, and based on analogy and parallel, not on tying respective bodies of work together.

eg Hamlet killed a servant. Devere killed a servant. Therefore Devere wrote Hamlet. If one reads the source story of Hamlet, Amleth, by Saxo Grammaticus, which predates Devere's existence by several hundred years Amleth kills a servant, rendering this parallel irrelevant. Anderson also claims DeVere based Desdemona, and Juliet on his wife. So the wife he hated and refused to live with is the basis for the teenage Juliet.

As weak as the facts are supporting Shakespeare's authorship, the DeVere theory will not replace it, because you cannot replace a weak set of facts with something even weaker.

I browsed through Chiljan's book several times on the bookstore, reluctant after the Anderson experience but each time gleaning something new, interesting, and factual, decided to buy it.

Her interest is not in proving DeVere wrote Shakespeare, but proving whether Shakespeare did. As a historian she knows what a fact is, and refers to the great writer, rather than naming DeVere. This made reading the book more palatable....

I found her scholarship and research to be in depth, and detailed. She uncovers several examples of digs at Shakespeare's learning in various plays, and even how he was satirised by other playwrights in their plays, particuarly Jonson. She also includes quotes that are before their time.

In my view, she makes some incorrect interpretations of certain events. There are other equally plausible or better explanations. She does however address the correct issues. Ultimately, her excellent chapter on the First Folio fraud made me decide to buy the book.

If you buy a mainstream book, by say Shapiro, Greenblatt, Wells, or Bevington, who all publish editions of the complete works of Shakespeare, you will discover very little information indicating that many plays were first published anonymously. In fact you may read misleading statements such as Shakespeare's name appears on 37 first editions, which is simply not true.

That is why this book is so useful, because it offers a different perspective, and is one of the better books on the authorship subject. If you are thinking about buying Anderson's get this instead. If you're like me you appreciate that you get what you pay for, and this book is infinitely better than Anderson's book, which I regret buying.

Shakespeare Suppressed presupposes that certain information about Shakespeare is kept hidden. I find some truth in this. When you hold a belief, you automatically, discount, negate or ignore anything to the contrary. In addition beliefs essentially have a life of their own, and constantly looking to prove themselves. Aha, that confirms it. In so doing, intentionally or not, the truth if is different does get suppressed.

That is why we need sceptical authors such as Chiljan to broaden the discussion.

Another book I recommend is Who Wrote Shakespeare?, which sets out the case for numerous candidates for authorship without taking sides. It presents the DeVere case very well. I think this book does have literary merit, and i will be reading this as a reference while my Greenblatt book stays on the shelf.

I think you will enjoy it, and I hope this was helpful. Read more ›