Vern: > Do you agree with Twain's views on Shakespeare? Or do you think the > main > value of his essay on Shakespeare was his tale about his arguments > with the > steamboat pilot? > Vern you missed the boat on this one! > I agree with Twain's views on Shakespeare found in his last book, "Is > Shakespeare Dead?"Twain along with many more astute writers have > seen thru the Stratford illusion to voice their opinion. It's more > of a common sense choice rather than an ingrained sentimental choice > to realise as Twain did that Shakespeare did not have the > circumstances of a celebrated writer even in his home town of > Stratford. It took over a 100 years for him to gain a popularity in > Stratford, thanks in part to an outsider and entrepenuer named David > Garrick. Twain used his own celebrityhood as an example of how he was > fully acknowledged while he was ALIVE in Hannibal. Is Shakespeare > Dead? is Mark Twain writing as a journalist with a keen eye and not > afraid to shake his spear at a few "Tragolydites" including his > steamboat pilot Ealer. Clemens was Twain as Bacon was Shakespeare. Twain's passion for Francis Bacon as author of Shakespeare can be viewed in a letter he dictatedin 1909. See http://www.sirbacon.org/links/marktwainletter.html And for Vern, visit http://www.sirbacon.org to get on course.Cheers,Lawrence Gerald >