James Norwood — Mark Twain and “Shake-Speare”: Soul Mates

Mark Twain intuitively recognized a kindred spirit in the Elizabethan author who had miraculously transformed the English language in the same way that Twain was reinventing the American idiom in the nineteenth century. This presentation draws on Twain’s vision of literary creativity and how he came to view himself as the incarnation of Shake-speare in modern America. It also recounts what inspired Twain to write his final book, Is Shakespeare Dead?; why he wanted it included in his monumental autobiography; and why the editors of the 2,000-page, three-volume edition at the University of California Press chose not to include Is Shakespeare Dead? in their printed version. In the autobiography, Twain allows us a glimpse of his soul as a literary artist, the understanding of which may bring us closer to the identity of the true author of Shakespeare’s works—whoever the author may be.

This talk was presented at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Conference in Hartford, CT on October 19, 2019.

James Norwood earned B.A. degrees in Drama & French from the University of California at Irvine and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Dramatic Art from the University of California at Berkeley. For twenty-six years, he taught humanities and the performing arts at the University of Minnesota. For a decade, he taught a semester course on the Shakespeare authorship question. He wrote the foreword to the paperback edition of Charles Beauclerk’s Shakespeare’s Lost Kingdom and served as a consultant for the documentary film Last Will. & Testament. An earlier version of “Mark Twain and ‘Shake-Speare’: Soul Mates” was published in Brief Chronicles in 2015 and was subsequently translated and published as an introduction to Twain’s Is Shakespeare Dead? in German and Russian language editions.

[esprit-critique]

A truly wonderful and illuminating speech!

[willshaw]

Very nicely done....Twain would be proud.

[WestonUlbrich]

Time for a Ken Burns documentary on the Shakespeare authorship question?

[rayjvify]

Fantastic, that was / is an amazing presentation . Mr. Norwood, you the man, thank you very much .... . 🏆🥇🏅🎖

[tvfun]

"From away back towards the very beginning of the Shakespear-Bacon controversy I have been on the Bacon side, and have wanted to see our majestic Shakespear unhorsed. My reasons for this attitude may have been good, they may have been bad, but such as they were, they strongly influenced me. " --Mark Twain in a letter Dictated by him from his home in Stormfield, CT on January 11, 1909.

[MundaSquire]

If you've seen the Alexander Waugh youtube videos, it seems Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, is the better choice over Bacon for authorship. What Waugh and other Oxfordians have brought together is, to me, incontrovertible.