Pseudonymous Shakespeare

An investigation into modes of early modern English literary ''indirection,'' this study could also be considered a detective work on a pseudonym attached to some late sixteenth-century works. In the course of unmasking ''R.L.'', McCarthy scrutinizes devices employed by writers in the Sidney coterie: punning, often across languages; repetitio-insistence on a sound, or hiding two persons ''under one hood''; disingenuous juxtaposition; evocation of original context; differential spelling (intended and significant). Among McCarthy''s stunning-but solidly underpinned-conclusions are: Shakespeare used the pseudonym ''R.L.'' among other pseudonyms; one, ''William Smith'', was also his ''alias'' in life; Shakespeare was at the heart of the Sidney circle, whose literary programme was hostile to Elizabeth I; and his work, composed mainly from the late 1570s to the early 90s, occasionally ''embedded'' in the work of others, was covertly alluded to more often than has been recognized.