Ben Jonson’s Desk Fire in November 1623 - Gabriel Ready
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ต.ค. 2024
- In November 1623, Ben Jonson claimed that several of his works in progress were destroyed by fire in a mock epic poem “An Execration Upon Vulcan.” Jonson’s contemporary, dramatist-poet-translator George Chapman, immediately accused him of lying in a similarly styled poem titled “An Invective.”
Manuscript versions of the two poems circulated privately for years and both were only published posthumously. The particulars of Chapman’s allegation are curious indeed. Chapman did not dispute the fire but instead questioned Jonson on who was responsible for the conflagration and what was destroyed.
This talk examines the conflict and what it could mean to the authorship of the Shakespeare plays.
Bio: Gabriel Ready has published several articles on the First Folio, including “History of Fixing: On the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio” and “Commit my Body to your Mercies: The Production of the First Folio Reconsidered,” both appearing in Roger Stritmatter’s recently published volume, The First Folio: A Shakespearean Enigma; and “A Prologue Arm’d: The Printing of Troilus and Cressida in the First Folio” (Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter, August 2021), and “Model of Disorder: the story of Alternative First Folios” (Humanities Commons, July 2020).
Based in Ottawa, Ontario, he is an independent researcher with an M.A. in English Literature.
This talk was presented as part of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship 2023 Annual Conference, held November 9-12, 2023.
Learn more at shakespeareoxf...
It's incredible, isn't it, that we have hundreds of Jonson's manuscripts but not a single one from Shakespeare? That fact alone defies explanation in terms of accidental fires. There should be some works by Shakespeare around considering his fame and output but there is not a single one. There should also be some works from the Stratford man if indeed he was said writer. That fantasy cruise, however, sailed long ago. Thank-you for this wonderful insight and presentation. I love Oxfordians and Authorship questioners for their investigative and historical curiosity.
stunning conclusion! great thanks for your investigation.
Another excellent presentation on the authorship mystery.
Could it be that the fire in Jonson's study was intended to destroy manuscripts used in the printing of the First Folio? I believe so.
Could the fire be a hint that the people whom "Shakespeare" satirized were afraid there were more manuscripts left unpublished which could further expose their foibles and flaws? If these could be proven true, it would lend credence to the idea that the fire was deliberately set to prevent such plays and poems from being published.
I do not believe that Jonson would have deliberately set fire to his own writing. It destroyed months, perhaps years, of his own work which I do not see an ageing playwright wanting to rewrite. In an era when plague, floods, and other natural and unnatural events could snuff out life in an instant, writers would not necessarily have wanted to see their work left unfinished or destroy work which was ready for publication.
The question is: why would he have set fire to the manuscripts used in the First Folio? Perhaps he thought they were of no use since the project had been completed and there was no need for them. Yet, what if there were other plays and poems given to him by Susan Vere Herbert? Why destroy valuable previously unpublished work given the quality of it? It does not make sense from our perspective, but perhaps there were good reasons for Jonson to do so.
George Steevens was the first Shakespearean scholar to attribute the letter To the Great Variety of Readers from the First Folio to Jonson due to paraphrasing and plagiarism of writing by him, some of which was not published until after Jonson's death in 1637 in the collection Timbers. Steevens' argument was persuasive enough to convince many 19th century scholars including the editors of the Cambridge edition of the complete works.
On another note: I was under the impression the fire happened in December 1623, specifically December 23rd. Perhaps my source was wrong.
I'd say Argenis was a cover story for the actual project, which was the first folio. Reports about seeing the translation of Argenis are part of the cover story. King James was aware of and approved the Shakespeare folio project.
Strong stuff!
A Moore is in the middle.
In the center of the 2nd part, 12 pgs in and 12 pages from end (pg271/781), there is a conversation betwixt the Queen and Hamlet. 17 lines from the top and 17 lines from bottom, 5 words over, 5 words from end...
MOORE
in the middle. Hmmm.
It were She, E. Ver.