Seminar No. 2.7.

Title: Theory and Methodology in Authorship/Attribution Studies.

Leaders:

Jonathan Hope (Middlesex University, UK)
David Kathman (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

Participants:

Jayson Brown (MacMaster University)
Charles Cathcart (Independent Scholar)
Marcus Dahl (University of Bristol)
Kate McLuskie (University of Southampton)
Gordon McMullan (King's College London)
Lucy Munro (King's College London)
Lene Petersen (University of Bristol)
Richard Proudfoot (King's College London)
Rebecca Rogers (University of Southampton)

Abstract:

Despite several recent well-known controversies, the field of authorship and attribution studies remains fragmented.
Methodologies are typically associated with a particular authorship claim, and often stand or fall on that claim, rather
than being assessed on their own merits. Furthermore, scholars working in the field have tended not to engage with the
theoretical approaches to 'authorship' current in literary studies. Rather than retread debates about specific texts, this
seminar aims to provide a forum for authorship scholars to debate general principles of methodology, and for attribution
and literary scholars to debate their often very different notions of what 'authorship' is, with particular reference to
Shakespeare's plays.