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Exit, pursued by bore. On 17 October 2016 at 19:11, Kent Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > As a follow up to my previous comment on the "coast of Bohemia," this is > from a preview note, a few years back, pertaining to the Shakespeare Italy > book I linked: > > > >> As noted in the comment thread to the previous entry, I discovered > after posting about Richard Roe's forthcoming book *The Shakespeare Guide > To Italy ... Then and Now* that the commercial edition is still > forthcoming -- but not as in a few weeks or months from now. More like > later this year or sometime next year. (Hopefully on the sooner end of that > scale.) > > Still, I don't want to whet appetites without also providing an appetizer > until the main course becomes available. > > So I'm pleased to report my recent discovery that a *one of the classic > studies on Shakespeare's Italy is now available for free download > <http://tinyurl.com/2awrggt>.* It was among a handful of excellent > sources that I used to write the two Italy chapters of *"Shakespeare" By > Another Name*. > > The 17-page work, "Shakespeare and the Waterways of North Italy," *obliterates > two of the most frequently-cited claims of the Bard's "ignorance" about > Italy -- and continental Europe.* > > Case in point, says the scold: *Shakespeare set part of The Winter's Tale > on the seacoast of Bohemia. That'd be like trying to find some nice > oceanfront property in Nebraska.* > > In fact, says Bart Edward Sullivan, the study's author, Bohemia during its > most prosperous years had *two seacoasts*. (And as *SBAN* readers may > recall, the first patch of foreign coastline Edward de Vere encountered on > his 1575 trip down the Adriatic Sea out of Venice was land ruled by the > then-King of Bohemia.) > > OK, then... another case in point: *Shakespeare didn't even know which > Italian cities were on the Mediterranean and which were landlocked. > Multiple plays feature voyages by ship from inland towns.* > > Sullivan demolishes that objection, too. Every one of the references to > travel by boat via inland Italian towns (in *The Tempest, Taming of the > Shrew,* and *Two Gentlemen of Verona*) is in fact *spot-on for 16th > century Italy, when travel across Northern Italy was often more convenient > by water than by land routes.* The Po and Adige rivers as well as via a > network of canals and tributaries that look today like a Renaissance > Italian bus map provided the routes for the region's network of ferries and > boats. > > Sullivan adds, however, that for *Two Gentlemen of Verona* (which > prominently features water travel between Verona and Milan), he couldn't > determine whether the *entire* journey between the two Italian cities > could be made by boat. > > And that's one hurdle Richard Roe's book clears. He records some pretty > impressive gumshoe detective work to determine that an uninterrupted > river/canal trip between Verona and Milan was not only possible -- it was > also recorded in accurate detail in *Two Gentlemen*. *The Bard's critics > are, again, the ones with egg on their face.* > > The dispiriting thing about Sullivan's work is that it was published in > 1908. And Sullivan was a *Stratfordian*. His work is still widely ignored > to this day. > > Evidently, a Shakespeare who knew Italy like the back of his hand is a > Shakespeare that academic Shakespeareans want nothing to do with. They know > that *if the Bard can be kept safely holed up in London, leaving no > traces of a well-traveled Renaissance life, there's no threat to the happy > myth of a commercial writer who spent his career churning out potboilers > for the stage.* > > The fun begins soon, friends. Sullivan is just the starter dish. > > > > >>> Jamie McKendrick <[log in to unmask]> 10/17/16 12:31 PM >>> > Hi Kent, - I know this is away off the interesting Dylan discussion, but > I’m curious what our duplicitous Will needed to know that was so > unavailable to write Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, > The 2 Gentlemen etc. There again, in that other play partly set in Messina, > he seems to show an surprising knowledge of the Bohemian coastline. Surely > only a well-travelled, aristocratic diplomat would have known about that? > Just musing. > Jamie > > *From:* Kent Johnson <[log in to unmask]> > *Sent:* Monday, October 17, 2016 5:47 PM > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Re: Dylan > > > Thank you, Judy. > > See the link to the page of Author Question updates--some intriguing > recent "finds" there, not least the chap who writes the Herbert brothers, > and refers to Shakespeare *in passing* as a member of the company--this a > few years after the Folio announcing the immortal Soul of the Age--the > Folio that is dedicated to *them*--is published. > > Italy seems to me the big question that needs answering (unless someone > can prove Will spent quality time there, learning details otherwise > impossible to account for), along with the utter lack of any notice at the > Stratford man's death, unexplainable unless it was known at the time that > Shake-speare had been another. > > Kent > >>> Judy Prince <[log in to unmask]> 10/17/16 1:34 AM >>> > Thanks for the 'doubtaboutwill' source, Kent. I'd forgotten it, and it's > wonderful to read those germane bits again. > > Judy > > On 17 October 2016 at 00:43, Kent Johnson <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > >> Hi Robin, >> >> I don't recall "withdrawing." Maybe I sent this link in as the position >> that I find most "convincing" and left it at that? As I do again. >> >> Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, two very widely respected people in >> the field of Shakespeare theater had a central hand in the writing and >> endorsement of this document. >> >> https://doubtaboutwill.org/declaration >> >> Ken McLeod, by the way, makes brief appearance in a quirky essay I had in >> the Chicago Review some years back re: British poetry. >> >> Kent >> >> >> >> >>> Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]> 10/16/16 6:28 PM >>> >> >> >> >> On 17 October 2016 at 00:03 Kent Johnson <[log in to unmask]> >> wrote: >> >> Hi Robin, I have a hazy memory of something or other. But did you settle >> the matter once and for all in favor of the Stratfordian case? If so, >> please forgive my poor memory. You should tell us how, once again, as I'm >> sure the increasingly nervous deniers of any reasonable doubt around >> Shakespeare's identity will be happy to receive your momentous proof. >> >> Well, I don't know whether or not I won, Kent, but you did withdraw from >> the argument. Only time I ever remember you doing that. This is possibly >> why my memory of the incident is clearer than yours. >> >> The matter certainly wasn't settled, at least to your satisfaction, but >> that's what happened. >> >> I can't remember which list it was on, and I can't be bothered to google >> for it, otherwise I'd post a link. As it is, I'm not going to fash myself >> repeating what I said. >> >> Whatever, nice to have you here. I do check out Dispatches occasionally, >> but I'm pushed for time, what with this and that, and it's not really my >> scene any more. >> >> Hey, you'd like Ken McLeod's work, that came up earlier. Glasgow student >> politics in the seventies (after my time -- he's about ten years younger >> than me) was sort of like where you are? used to be? at. You'd probably >> get more of KMcL's jokes in some areas than me -- some were deeply >> involuted, and I don't mean the Glasgow references. How about [not >> signalled as such] a Troskyite version of the Dilly Song? Children, come >> as I call you, I think it's called in America. My jaw dropped when I read >> it. He chucks it in just in passing, then moves on. Gallusl! Even the >> title has a 4I insider spin -- *The Star Fraction.* >> >> Robin. >> >> >>> Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]> 10/16/16 5:54 PM >>> >> >> >> >> On 16 October 2016 at 23:42 Kent Johnson <[log in to unmask]> >> wrote: >> >> All this talk about Dylan the plagiarist or Dylan the selfish and petty >> one... >> >> Sounds like Dylan and Shakespeare have some habits and demeanors in >> common. >> >> Assuming "Shakespeare" really* was* the virtually undocumented Stratford >> man who scrawled his name, in nearly all extant instances, as Shakspere. >> >> >> >> >> Hi, Kent! >> >> Remember the last time we had this particular argument in public? *I *do. >> :-). >> >> "who scrawled his name, in nearly all extant instances, as Shakspere." >> Hey, you didn't say that the last time round, as I remember. I'm almost >> tempted. But no, I'll be good, and gracefully withdraw. I mean, *lots* >> of people say that, what you've just said, so it must be true. Musn't it? >> >> Cheers, >> >> Robin >> >> >> >> >> > > -- David Joseph Bircumshaw The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw Tumblr: http://zantikus.tumblr.com/ twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/