Roger Stritmatter - Oxfrauds, Misfits, & the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Shakespearean Discourse

‘O What a Tangled Web’: Oxfrauds, Misfits, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 21st Century Shakespearean Discourse
Making use of the wit and wisdom of the American satirist and post-Stratfordian Mark Twain, this lecture examines the unholy alliance connecting the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) through the Birthplace’s online contractee, The Misfits (www.studiomisfit.co/; misfit.co/), to the online special interest and anti-Oxfordian group known as the “Oxfrauds.” Following the Misfit playbook, the Oxfrauds seem to believe that implied threats of violence and public shaming against skeptics are a legitimate way to discuss Shakespeare. Up until now, they have been tolerated on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Amazon reviews. Using online clips, screenshots, and other non-traditional documentary sources, the lecture examines the strategic nexus, including public endorsements by former SBT Trustee and affiliate Sir Jonathan Bate, an Oxford University Professor and former provost of Worcester College, that links the SBT to the “Oxfrauds.” As numerous statements attest, these overlapping organizations share a primary mission to counter Oxfordian discoveries, misrepresent the historical record about the authorship question, sow chaos in online discussion forums, and generally conduct an organized smear campaign against persons sympathetic to the post-Stratfordian or Oxfordian argument.
This talk was presented at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Conference in Hartford, CT on October 19, 2019.
Roger A. Stritmatter is a Professor of Humanities and Literature at Coppin State University who has studied the Shakespeare question for almost thirty years. He has been a member of the Shakespeare Oxford Society since 1990 and became a founding member of the Shakespeare Fellowship in 2000. With Gary Goldstein, in 2009, he established Brief Chronicles: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Authorship Studies and served as general editor 2009-2016. The 2017 fourth edition of the Index to Oxfordian Publications identifies 116 authorship related articles by him (1990-2017), many in orthodox academic journals, including The Shakespeare Yearbook, Review of English Studies, Notes and Queries, Critical Survey, and (with R. Waugaman) the Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review. He is the author, with Lynne Kositsky, of On the Date, Sources, and Design of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (McFarland 2013) and, with Alexander Waugh, A New Shakespeare Allusion Book: Literary Allusions to Shakespeare, 1584-1786 from Historical Principles (forthcoming, 2020) and has appeared in two authorship documentaries, Last Will. And Testament (2012) and Nothing is Truer than Truth (2018).

[@rosezingleman5007]

I have to tell my fellow Oxfordians that as a traditional Catholic I encounter these same arguments applied over and over in conversations with modernist Catholics/infallibilitists as I hear from Stratfordians. My own sister, a retired academic and adherent to papal infallibility is also a rabid Stratfordian. I believe this adherence to the dictates of those in power originated after the Enlightenment. Those who rewrite history have a vested interest in maintaining the edifice of that fictionalized account and will go to great lengths to squash dissent. We see it today re “the Science(TM)”.

[@rstritmatter]

Interesting.

[@Short-Cipher]

I didn't realize how humorous this would be.😆 I needed that. Thank you.👏

[@davidmontee9892]

Wonderful presentation, Professor Stritmatter. Thanks for posting it; and thanks for the entirely unexpected shout out.

[@rstritmatter]

Thanks David. Appreciate your continued presence and kind words.

[@johnwarner3968]

Great presentation and a wonderful book by Professor Stritmatter. Thank you and I look forward to more of these videos giving Edward de Vere his true credit.

[@toxtethogrady4610]

Thank you for posting. Worthwhile (re-)orientation on the Authorship discourse.

[@skeshavarz60]

Brilliant presentation!

[@rstritmatter]

Thanks, Susan.

[@KLPTheFirst]

Edward De Vere’s descendants thank you for your work and path to the truth.

[@3dcpsolutions381]

If you look at the facts, then again IGNORE THE FACTS AND JUST BELIEVE THE “experts”. How could you possibly say that the man from Stratford did not write Shakespeare, there is much evidence, OK a little evidence or actually ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE. But that only means that no one can prove it and has nothing to do with the facts, or better said speculations or should I say BLIND GUESSING? If you do any research on this, then you are wrong and only influenced by facts, evidence and reality. At Stratford we ignore facts, evidence and reality because it is very PROFITABLE.

[@SnipTifferz]

If it wasn’t for the link to Shakespeare...........Stratford Upon Avon would just be another quaint English town situated next to a river (much like Henley On Thames, Maidenhead, Marlow etc etc). The SBT has turned S-U-A into a scummy tourist trap and all that goes with that.

[@andy-the-gardener]

people making a pilgrimage by plane and car to stratford upon avon expecting a tiny hamlet nestled in the sylvan hills of warwickshire might be forgiven for being a tad underwhelmed by its present state. its more a gigantic car dealership with a polluted river flowing through it these days i'm afraid. the millions of cars, massive road developments and rampant urban sprawl only add to the charm of one of the greatest scams of all time

[@johnwarner3968]

“Professor Shapiro, I would flunk you!” Bam 💥 TKO 👊. An awesome presentation. The current cancel culture started a long time ago in academia. Thank you, Professor Stritmatter, et al for continuing the fight for the Oxfordians and Edward de Vere as the real author of Shakespeare! Anyone know why the early Oxfordian series of books has been discontinued? Looking for Volume 14. Thank you 🙏

[@rstritmatter]

Which series are you talking about? There are lots of books and articles coming out on a regular basis.

[@willshaw6405]

Admirable defense of authorship issue...keep it up, Dr Stritmatter.

[@onefeather2]

Loved it well done.

[@rafthejaf8789]

Having looked into this subject it now seems clear to me that the notion that Shakespeare wrote those plays is nothing more than an enduring but absurd conspiracy theory that has become do embedded throughout the world as to make it extremely difficult to dislodge.

[@rstritmatter]

Yep.

[@tonyholmes962]

My wife makes me go to Stratford every year. I want my money back.

[@maryoleary5044]

😄

[@maryoleary5044]

Awwh, still lovely place though 😃

[@myersred8]

I think there was a different concept of authorship when the collection of works given the brand name "Shakespeare" was compiled. Both sides of this debate may be right. Stratfordians, why does so much of Shakespeare's work conform to the style and experience of Oxford? Oxfordians, why was there no controversy when works were published with attribution to Shakespeare so shortly after he had died? Wouldn't people familiar with the plays have strongly objected to works of such genius being misattributed like that? In light of the Homeric question, the fuzziness of authorship comes into focus: Homer was a compendium of styles and dialects that spanned hundreds of years and a wide swath of geography--the work accrued over many generations of geniuses. Similarly on a much more condensed scale, Shakespeare might have been a very successful re-worker and super-talented presenter of work that was initiated by Oxford. Maybe he also had a team of brilliant collaborators and stage directors, managing a production the way tv shows are developed. Consider also artists like Jeff Koons. The concepts are his, the craftsmanship is left to professionals. It might be just as ridiculous to wonder why Koons hasn't left his foundries and work shops and tools in his will as it was to wonder why Shakespeare didn't leave a library or manuscripts in his will.