Brief Chronicles
Encyclopedia
Brief Chronicles is an interdisciplinary
academic journal
dedicated to examining the Shakespeare authorship question
and more generally topics in early modern authorship studies. It was established in 2009 and is included in the MLA International Bibliography
and World Shakespeare Bibliography
databases. The editor-in-chief is Roger Stritmatter
. The journal is sponsored by the Shakespeare Fellowship, an organization devoted to promoting Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true author of the works of William Shakespeare.
The journal's name refers to a quotation from Hamlet
in which Hamlet warns Polonius
that the players are "the abstract and brief chronicles of the/time: after your death you were better have a bad/epitaph than their ill report while you live" (2.2.534-36). The journal's mission statement quotes former Folger Shakespeare Library
educational director Richmond Crinkley in a 1985 Shakespeare Quarterly
review of Charlton Ogburn
Jr.’s The Mysterious William Shakespeare: "Doubts about Shakespeare came early and grew rapidly. They have a simple and direct plausibility. The plausibility has been reinforced by the tone and methods by which traditional scholarship has responded to the doubts." According to its mission statement, "Brief Chronicles solicits articles that answer Crinkley’s 1985 call for scholarship which transcends the increasingly irrelevant traditional division between 'amateur' knowledge and 'expert' authority [in Shakespearean studies]."
Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
dedicated to examining the Shakespeare authorship question
Shakespeare authorship question
Image:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg|thumb|alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors.|Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe have each been proposed as the true author...
and more generally topics in early modern authorship studies. It was established in 2009 and is included in the MLA International Bibliography
Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
and World Shakespeare Bibliography
World Shakespeare Bibliography
World Shakespeare Bibliography Online is a searchable electronic database consisting of the most comprehensive record of Shakespeare-related scholarship and theatrical productions published or produced worldwide between 1961 and 2009...
databases. The editor-in-chief is Roger Stritmatter
Roger Stritmatter
Roger A. Stritmatter is an associate professor of Humanities at Coppin State University and the general editor of Brief Chronicles, an open access journal covering the Shakespeare authorship question...
. The journal is sponsored by the Shakespeare Fellowship, an organization devoted to promoting Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true author of the works of William Shakespeare.
The journal's name refers to a quotation from Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
in which Hamlet warns Polonius
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
that the players are "the abstract and brief chronicles of the/time: after your death you were better have a bad/epitaph than their ill report while you live" (2.2.534-36). The journal's mission statement quotes former Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...
educational director Richmond Crinkley in a 1985 Shakespeare Quarterly
Shakespeare Quarterly
Shakespeare Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the . It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, Shakespeare Quarterly incorporates scholarly research and essays on Shakespeare and the age in which he...
review of Charlton Ogburn
Charlton Ogburn
Charlton Ogburn, Jr. was a journalist and author of memoirs and non-fiction works. He was also a well-known advocate of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship...
Jr.’s The Mysterious William Shakespeare: "Doubts about Shakespeare came early and grew rapidly. They have a simple and direct plausibility. The plausibility has been reinforced by the tone and methods by which traditional scholarship has responded to the doubts." According to its mission statement, "Brief Chronicles solicits articles that answer Crinkley’s 1985 call for scholarship which transcends the increasingly irrelevant traditional division between 'amateur' knowledge and 'expert' authority [in Shakespearean studies]."