The I Index

Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature

Next in the queue

63

/100

I Index Overall Rating

Readers

74/100

Critics

53/100

Scholars

N/A

Author:

Elizabeth Winkler

Publisher:

Simon & Schuster

Date:

May 9, 2023

The theory that Shakespeare may not have written the works that bear his name is the most horrible, vexed, unspeakable subject in the history of English literature. In Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, journalist and literary critic Elizabeth Winkler sets out to probe the origins of this literary taboo.

What The Reviewers Say

A. E. Siraki,
Booklist
Winkler alternates between historical explorations of the subject matter and ideas about why the Shakespeare experts get so defensive and hard nosed. A must-read for those obsessed with the bard..

Publishers Weekly
Winkler doesn’t weigh in on the likeliness of the candidates, but instead uses the controversy to serve up thoughtful meditations on the role of the author, the objectivity of biography, and the limits of scholarly study.

Kirkus
Winkler is well versed in Shakespeare’s works as well as the “vast, complex” literature on the authorship question.