Shakespeare gets a co-author
A literary kerfluffle came this week from England where researchers announced that Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe would share credits with William Shakespeare on the "Henry VI" trilogy published by Oxford University in the upcoming edition, "New Oxford Shakespeare."
Though theories about other writers being involved, or even authoring, works attributed to Shakespeare, this is the first time that Marlowe or anyone else has had his name officially recognized on the title page alongside the Bard of Avon in a scholarly edition of the complete Shakespeare works.
Editor Gary Taylor was quoted in The Guardian newspaper as saying researchers had verified Marlowe's hand "strongly and clearly enough" using textual analysis and computers. The curious might want to know more about the process than the Guardian article revealed. The purist might want to see a contract between Marlowe and Shakespeare. But in fact my 50-year-old Cambridge edition also concedes that some writer — or writers — besides Shakespeare was involved in the "Henry VI" project, the assemblage of which may have resembled a big-budget Hollywood spectacular more than a stand-alone play. But the Cambridge scholars don't identify who else was on the team.
According to The Guardian, 23 scholars involved in the Oxford tome have identified 17 of the canon of 44 plays as being co-written. Perhaps they should change the title of the new edition to "New Oxford Shakespeare & Co."
Anthropology on tap at Fireside Books
James Kari and James Fall, co-authors of "Shem Pete's Alaska," will sign copies of the second edition of the celebrated guide to local Dena'ina history at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, at Fireside Books in Palmer. The book expands on the original volume with more traditional place names and other ethnographic information collected over the course of the past 30 years. Also on Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. they'll be the guests at the author dinner, which takes place at Turkey Red. Tickets for the dinner are $30 and available at goodbooksbadcoffee.com.
'I'll take Dena'ina lore for $500, Alex'
Thea Lawton of Anchorage, a resource development specialist working in the nonprofit sector, will be among the competitors on "Jeopardy," broadcast locally on KYUR on Monday, Oct. 31. As with all contestants, Lawton can't say how she did until the show airs, so you'll need to tune in to find out whether she returns on Nov. 1.
And, although the round has already taken place, we say: Good luck, Thea.
We told you he was good
For the past three years we've had praise for tenor Kirk Dougherty, whose appearances with Anchorage Opera have included Arturo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" (2013), Pinkerton in "Madame Butterly" (2014) and Don Jose in "Carmen" (2015). His name popped up again in the role of Mitch in Andre Previn's "A Streetcar Named Desire" at Opera San Jose, where he is now a member of the company. A review in the British periodical, Opera, said the role "requires subtle acting and fine singing, and Dougherty excelled at both."
Anchorage audiences knew that.