On May 24, 11:42 am, Joseph DeMartino  wrote:
> Do you think the newsgroups and websites devoted to...
> Shakespeare are filled with fans pushing for "Hamlet II:  The Wrath of
> Fortinbras"...?
Actually, they are largely filled with mentally ill individuals
claiming variously that:
  Shakespeare didn't write his own plays (sometimes they go further to
claim that their hero, whoever that is, also wrote "Don Quixote", "The
Fairy Queene", and practically everything else published in any
language between 1550 and 1650. If their candidate is Francis Bacon,
they sometimes go on to include "Moby Dick" -- and "Babylon
5", too,
for aught I know to the contrary. (Anyone recall the guy who was
claiming online about a dozen years ago that B5 was actually being
written by Harlan Ellison?)
  Shakespeare was the reincarnation of Jesus. (If you think that's
wacky, there's a /really/ demented fan on another group who apparently
believes that Andrea Corr is the reincarnation of Jesus.)
  /They/ are the reincarnation of Shakespeare.
  The "inner, mystical" meaning of Shakespeare's plays can be attained
to by "meditation". (Actually /reading/ the plays is a distraction.)
Of course, right now, there is also a lot of fuss over the Arden
Shakespeare deciding to include Lewis Theobald's 1727 "Double
Falshood; or, The Distrest Lovers", on the hypothesis that Theobald
based it on the since-lost "Cardenio", a play of 1613 co-authored by
Shakespeare and John Fletcher, the young man who took over as head
writer for the King's Men when Shakespeare retired. I happen to be a
minor expert on the subject (you can read "Double Falshood" on my
website at http://pws.prserv.net/jwkennedy>), and I am inclined
to think they are right. I suppose you could see that as a variation
on the demanding-a-sequel theme, if you like.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32