Shakespeare, in Fact

Written with wit and panache, this erudite tome dismantles the arguments of those who claim that someone other than William Shakespeare wrote his plays. The current frontrunner in the Bard authorship sweepstakes is Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), a minor court poet, actor and producer. Matus ( Shakespeare: The Living Record ) soundly thrashes the Oxfordians, puncturing holes in their theory that de Vere wrote the plays. Matus demonstrates that Shakespeare's contemporaries gave little indication that they thought of the Bard as the greatest playwright of his age; only during the 18th-century, when editors corrected real or perceived flaws in the works, did his reputation soar, the author maintains. This closely argued study should help put to rest the authorship controversy. Illustrated. First serial to the Atlantic Monthly. (Jan.)