The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0940 Monday, 23 October 2006
From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 19 Oct 2006 14:04:45 -0400
Subject: 17.0929 Ron Rosenbaum's The Shakespeare Wars
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0929 Ron Rosenbaum's The Shakespeare Wars
>When Weiss suggests that Blayney's opinion has "come down to
>us by oral transmission" he seems to be saying that an informal
>written (not oral) repetition of one man's opinion may serve
>as the foundation of the most-discussed textual question of
>the last thirty years.
Good grief! I said no such thing; I merely paraphrased the point that
Downs made. And I have no dog in this fight: I do not have an opinion --
and, frankly, I don't overmuch care -- whether Lear Q1 was a memorial
reconstruction, an early draft, or anything else. In fact, after reading
Rosenbaum's book I am left with the impression that he also has no strong
opinion on the subject. He was informing the general reader of current
issues in Shakespearean scholarship and presenting examples of the
character of the discourse.
All I did was to point out that Downs was unfair to Rosenbaum by carping
that he omitted the kind of extreme detail which might be appropriate in a
scholarly monograph but is out of place in the kind of book Rosenbaum
wrote. Downs evidently has a strong opinion on the Lear matter that leads
him to object to Rosenbaum's description of one side of the controversy --
Rosenbaum also presented the other side. I have no idea what inspires
Downs to be so heated, perhaps he will tell us. But, as I have lost
interest in this combat, I now withdraw from the arena. Ron Rosenbaum is
well equipped to defend himself if he thinks it is necessary.
As for my confusion of Joseph and Frank Mankiewicz: My bad. I guess this
goes to show that anyone can slip.
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