The mysterious William Shakespeare: The myth and the reality [Hardcover]

Charlton Ogburn (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 892 pages
• Publisher: Dodd, Mead; 1st edition (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0396084419
• ISBN-13: 978-0396084419
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.7 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,325,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Believing the Impossible, February 6, 2000

By 

John Murphree (United States of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The mysterious William Shakespeare: The myth and the reality (Hardcover)

* We begin with the enormous amount of learning displayed in the plays and poems of William Shakeapeare: the arts, history, finance, law, military affairs, government, especially connected with royalty...not just a world--a universe--of knowledge which Pgburn sees no way for William Shakespeare of Stratrord-upon-Avon to have acquired. * William Shakespeare was not enrolled in a univesity--according to univeristy records of the time--and when he might have been privately educated though tutors, he was forced (at 18) to marry a woman eight years his senior--and was the father of three children (including twins) within two years. How could it have been possible, under these conditions, for any person to gain the kind of knowledge which the writer of the plays and poems display? * Or we begin with a man whose ancestor was at the signing of the Magna Carta, whose home Queen Elizabeth visited when he was a boy, who held degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge, and whose Latin teacher was the greatest Latin scholor in England, and who was close enough to the throne to be one of the carriers of the golden cloth above the queen's head in Westminster Abbey at the defeat of the Spanash Armada...Edward deVere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Though we cannot PROVE that Shakespeare did not write the plays--nor any other negative--it is simply impossible for me to belive that he could possibly have written the plays, from the twin standpoints of his lack of education and experience, exactly the two qualities which were necessary for the plays' and poems' composition, and precisely the two qualities which Edward deVere posssed. * Ogburn's book covers these two aspects of any writer's background necessary for composing the works of Shakeapeare--education and experience--and leaves it to the reader to either agree with him or disagree with him. I wholeheartedly agree. * If Ogburn's treatse has flaws, which tome of the length of his composition does not? But the problem of how William Shakespeare, growing up in a village of approximately 2500 people in the countryside of England in the 17th century could have written the works of Shakespeare is a much larger question. Long live Edward deVere.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly factual investigation of its subject., March 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The mysterious William Shakespeare: The myth and the reality (Hardcover)

For open minded scholars and lovers of 'Shakespeare' who are also lovers of justice, Ogburn's book is compelling reading. Effectively decimating the possibility that a Stratford merchant who never owned a book and could barely write his own name could have produced the flower of English literature, Ogburn then introduces us to Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. The facts of this fascinating man's life would convince any but the most prejudiced reader that De Vere was indeed the author of the majority of "Shakespearian" works. Though there may be minor flaws in Ogburn's work, (as there are in any work of this magnitude, even Shakespeare's) that is no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater! Let's not lose sight of the fact that a major discovery has been made about the world's most influential author. And with Oxford, a fascinating human being as Shakespeare, the infinitely fascinating plays gain an even deeper emotional impact. Essential reading for anyone who cares about literature.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best big book on the subject, June 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The mysterious William Shakespeare: The myth and the reality (Hardcover)

Ogburn's a fabulous writer. One may read it for his style alone. Large book, many small chapters. Book II is something of the life of the 17th Earl of Oxford, but Book I is my favorite--I love Ogburn's quoting of the Orthodox scholars of Shaxberd (or Shagspere, or Shakesper, or Shakspre, or Shaxper, or Shaxpere, or Shexpere): did you know that the "university of life" is "more exacting" than the education you'd get at Cambridge? No? Important Stratfordian scholars would have you think so. They also say there is little "book learning" in the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. Then Ogburn lists all of the learning and various subjects Oxford was more or less an expert on...or had firsthand experience with (like travel, the law, falconry, botany, science, music, art, classical literature and philosophy, jousting, the military, etc.). The orthodox scholars now think that "Shakespeare" must have seen Italy in order to write about it as one who was there.

Indeed.