Reforging Shakespeare: The Story of a Theatrical Scandal - Tapa dura

Covers the story of William-Henry Ireland, a seventeen-year-old boy who, in 1795, fooled the academic and theatrical world with his Shakespeare forgeries. Kahan explores the forgeries in the light of eighteenth-century aesthetics, literary fraud and detection.

Reforging Shakespeare charts the bizarre but true story of William-Henry Ireland, a seventeen-year-old boy who, in 1795, fooled the academic and theatrical world with his Shakespeare forgeries. The book not only covers the story of the fraud, but details concerns about eighteenth-century aesthetics, literary fraud and detection, and, of course, perceptions of Shakespeare. It offers as explanation as to the conditions that gave rise to the forgery as well as its major ramifications, which are still affecting Shakespeare scholarship and theatrical production.