Shakespeare's collaborations
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Like most playwrights of his period, Shakespeare did not always write alone and a number of his plays are collaborative, or were revised after their original composition, although the exact number is open to debate. Some of the following attributions, such as the The Two Noble Kinsmen, have well-attested contemporary documentation; others, such as Titus Andronicus, remain more controversial, and are dependent on linguistic analysis by modern scholars; recent work on computer analysis of textual style (word use, word and phrase patterns) has given reason to believe that parts of some of the plays ascribed to Shakespeare are actually by other (unknown) writers.
[edit] Elizabethan authorship
The Elizabethan theatre was nothing like the modern theatre, but rather more like the modern film industry. Scripts were often written quickly, older scripts were revised, and many were the product of collaboration. The unscrupulous nature of the Elizabethan book printing 'trade' complicates the attribution of plays further; for example, William Jaggard, who published the First Folio, also published The Passionate Pilgrim by W. Shakespeare, which is mostly the work of other writers. Some scholars, following a theoretical trend first set forth by Michel Foucault in his instrumental essay, "What is an Author?" also argue that the concept of the creative integrity of a single author, as we know it, did not exist at the time.
[edit] Shakespeare's collaborations
- Cardenio, a lost play; contemporary reports say that Shakespeare collaborated on it with John Fletcher.
- Henry VI, part 1: possibly the work of a team of playwrights, whose identities we can only guess at. Some scholars argue that Shakespeare wrote less than 20% of the text.
- Henry VIII: generally considered a collaboration between Shakespeare and John Fletcher.
- Macbeth: Thomas Middleton may have revised this tragedy in 1615 to incorporate extra musical sequences.
- Measure for Measure: may have undergone a light revision by Thomas Middleton at some point after its original composition.
- Pericles Prince of Tyre: may include the work of George Wilkins, either as collaborator, reviser, or revisee.
- Timon of Athens: may result from collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton which might explain its incoherent plot and unusually cynical tone.
- Titus Andronicus: may be a collaboration with, or revision of, George Peele.
- The Two Noble Kinsmen, published in quarto in 1654 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare on the title page; each playwright appears to have written about half of the text.
