The forensic linguists worked on murder and paedophile cases so their analysis was used by the police and in court. I interviewed a few of them and one explained that they sometimes (as a sideline) got called upon to analyse Jack the Ripper letters for newspaper articles. A lot relied on the corpus of available data. But yes, I tend to be sceptical about some of the claims too.
Well, this is the thing, isn't it? The number of lost plays is vast and that fact alone suggests to me that far more caution should be exercised in making large claims about authorship. But obviously, academic careers are more likely to be made by loudly championing attribution - Edward III by Shakespeare, say - than by cautiously suggesting it as a possible hypothesis.
Ooh thank you - will read it. Some years ago I worked at a university with a very good forensic linguistics department, and I’m quite curious to know about the analysis. I heard a podcast with the author who admitted that his work is not without controversy.
I must admit I’m deeply sceptical about a lot of attribution studies, especially when based on, essentially, data analysis - counting usage of syntactic elements & phrases, etc - and Smith articulates those reservations really well. As a rule, unless there is documentary evidence of attribution, I’m not easily persuaded.
I'm delighted to see John Lewis-Stempel on this list. I love his nature writing and would see him as probably our greatest living nature writer. I have all his books from Meadowland to La Vie and am eagerly awaiting this new one. If you don't know his work, do give him a try, the nature books are a delight. My favourite is Nightwalking - a slim volume of beautiful essays. I understand that after this latest publication he will concentrate on history writing.
It's really good!! I think I've read and enjoyed all her books – especially Blood & Roses, which I loved – but this is by some measure her best so far, in my opinion. In all honesty, there was a moment when I was reading it for review that I realised I hadn't made any notes for 20 or 30 pages because I'd been so gripped by/absorbed by the narrative that I just kept turning the page. I can't remember if that's happened before.
I don't think I've seen her give a talk, but I imagine she'd be great. There are so many festivals these days I'm sure other opportunities will arise!
Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers definitely looks fascinating. 📚
Yes I agree! But Emma Smith made some powerful criticisms of some of the computer-based analysis in the context of an otherwise favourable review in the Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/review-shakespeares-feathers-darren-freebury-jones/
The forensic linguists worked on murder and paedophile cases so their analysis was used by the police and in court. I interviewed a few of them and one explained that they sometimes (as a sideline) got called upon to analyse Jack the Ripper letters for newspaper articles. A lot relied on the corpus of available data. But yes, I tend to be sceptical about some of the claims too.
Well, this is the thing, isn't it? The number of lost plays is vast and that fact alone suggests to me that far more caution should be exercised in making large claims about authorship. But obviously, academic careers are more likely to be made by loudly championing attribution - Edward III by Shakespeare, say - than by cautiously suggesting it as a possible hypothesis.
By which I mean: some of the claims about Elizabethan literature - it’s a good hook for a book!
Just replied to your previous post. I think we are like-minded on this!
Ooh thank you - will read it. Some years ago I worked at a university with a very good forensic linguistics department, and I’m quite curious to know about the analysis. I heard a podcast with the author who admitted that his work is not without controversy.
I must admit I’m deeply sceptical about a lot of attribution studies, especially when based on, essentially, data analysis - counting usage of syntactic elements & phrases, etc - and Smith articulates those reservations really well. As a rule, unless there is documentary evidence of attribution, I’m not easily persuaded.
I'm delighted to see John Lewis-Stempel on this list. I love his nature writing and would see him as probably our greatest living nature writer. I have all his books from Meadowland to La Vie and am eagerly awaiting this new one. If you don't know his work, do give him a try, the nature books are a delight. My favourite is Nightwalking - a slim volume of beautiful essays. I understand that after this latest publication he will concentrate on history writing.
Thank you so much for the recommendation! I’ll add Nightwalking to my list of must-reads.
a fascinating collection
Everyone seems to love eagle and the hart ! I just missed castor at Gloucester hist fest
It's really good!! I think I've read and enjoyed all her books – especially Blood & Roses, which I loved – but this is by some measure her best so far, in my opinion. In all honesty, there was a moment when I was reading it for review that I realised I hadn't made any notes for 20 or 30 pages because I'd been so gripped by/absorbed by the narrative that I just kept turning the page. I can't remember if that's happened before.
I don't think I've seen her give a talk, but I imagine she'd be great. There are so many festivals these days I'm sure other opportunities will arise!
Amazing