SAT Conference 2021 - 3 - Ros Barber - Problems with the Thomas North Attribution

Dr. Ros Barber: A senior lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Dr. Barber will speak on “Sources, Parallelism, and Problems with the Thomas North Attributions.” at the Shakespearean Authorship Trust conference 2021, Volumes that I prize above my dukedom—Shakespeare’s Sources

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[enheduannapax]

Love Dr. Barber - Her lecture on the value of uncertainty is a must-see. Also greatly admire her original thinking and willingness to challenge orthodoxy. She’s fearless!

[brendanward]

Never a dull moment when Ros is lecturing.

[dehilster]

Having seen this video and Dennis McCarthy’s rebuttal video, I side with McCarthy on this one. Dr. Barber’s criticisms rely on taking small phrases in isolation. That counter argument would fail in any statistics class. Taking all the phrases together, it is mathematically impossible to state that Shakespeare didn’t use North’s work. Shakespeare was a great producer and one of the first to exploit plays going to the masses. Using North makes total sense historically and fits Shakespeare’s business and creative prowess to know what intrigued the masses and sell tickets. McCarthy’s work stings in too ways: one his is not and accepted Shakespeare scholar and two, McCarthy is right about North. The good news: McCarthy’s statistical analysis cannot be undone or thrown away by those who may have brushed egos. Facts cannot be unseen.

[stevenhershkowitz]

okay so what does this mean?:

"I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is
southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw."

the word "north" appears only very rarely in the Works of Shakespeare
there are more anagrams of "Ed Vere" than there are appearances of the word "north"

[avlasting]

The sound is too garbled. Perhaps a redo is in order.

[ronroffel]

I found this to be fascinating. In less than five years from its inception, it would appear as if the North candidacy has been effectively quelled by a single presentation lasting less than an hour.

Kudos to Dr. Barber for doing this.

[masamus]

When you listen to someone like Dr. Barber, you realise how much the term "scholarly" is up for grabs.