The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 9.0931  Friday, 2 October 1998.

[1]     From:   David Kathman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 01 Oct 1998 10:10:50 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 9.0929  Re: Ed3

[2]     From:   Scott Oldenburg <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 01 Oct 1998 11:21:08 -0700
        Subj:   Re: SHK 9.0929 Re: Ed3


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           David Kathman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 01 Oct 1998 10:10:50 -0500
Subject: 9.0929  Re: Ed3
Comment:        Re: SHK 9.0929  Re: Ed3

Michael Ullyot wrote:

> Lee Gibson's posting of the Times article on the 'recovered' _Edward
> III_ was a wonderful read, but leaves me with a few questions. What
> programs are these that purport to recognise the patterns of
> Shakespeare's language (and, he added facetiously, where can I get this
> program)?

I'm not sure what "programs" the article was alluding to, but it may
refer to Don Foster's SHAXICON, which is actually not a program at all
but a database. For what it's worth, SHAXICON suggests that the Countess
scenes in *Edward III*, but not necessarily the rest of the play, are by
Shakespeare.  I don't have time to describe SHAXICON here, but it's been
discussed at some length both here an in the
humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare newsgroup.  Don Foster's web page
(http://vassun.vassar.edu/~foster/) has a very brief description of the
database and a couple of articles describing its use.  He has been
intending for over two years to make it public, but has been distracted
by other matters that got out of his control.  He is hoping to make
SHAXICON available on the web within the next year.

Also, I believe that Elliot Slater's studies of Shakespeare's rare words
back in the 70s and 80s suggested that Shakespeare wrote *Edward III*.
Slater didn't actually use computers, but the popular press tends to
assume that any quantitative work on literature necessarily involves
computers.

> Is the text of this play readily available, in either book or
> electronic form? Are there any other scholarly resources available on
> it?

As Peter Holland noted in this thread, there is a new scholarly edition
of the play, edited by Giorgio Melchiori, just out in the Cambridge
Shakespeare series.  There's another recent edition by Eric Sams which
is not as scholarly and more tendentious, but worth looking at if you're
interested in the play.  I'm not aware of an electronic edition.

> Finally, what's this about _E3_ bringing Shakespeare's canonical count
> to 39? Was another contested play recently added?

I think the 38 figure comes from the 36 plays of the First Folio plus
*Pericles* and *The Two Noble Kinsmen*, both of which are very widely
recognized as being at least partially by Shakespeare, and both of which
have been included in most recent editions.

Dave Kathman
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Scott Oldenburg <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 01 Oct 1998 11:21:08 -0700
Subject: 9.0929 Re: Ed3
Comment:        Re: SHK 9.0929 Re: Ed3

I count 39.5 plays attributed to Shakespeare in the new Riverside
(including 2 Noble Kinsemen, King Edward the Third, and parts of Sir
Thomas More-hence the ".5").  What is the probability that the next
Riverside (or other publication of the complete works) will include
_Edmund Ironside_?  What is the consensus among members of this list
regarding Edmund Ironside and other Shakepeare apocrypha?

All the best,
Scott Oldenburg

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