Mary, Good Sir

      In a gesture I'm sure RK would think pitiable (or risible?), one scholar has rather fancifully suggested that the True Identity of William ("Superman") Shakespeare is none other than-- the envelope, please-- Mary Sidney.   For those you unfamiliar with her (and this includes the scholar in question, this blog suspects), Mary was the sister of Sir Philip Sidney and a prolific writer in her own right.   The argument for the Countess of Pembroke being Shakespeare is spurious and contrived, but it does occasion this blog to direct you to some of her writings, of which her translations of the Psalms and The Triumph of Death are quite good. Any other questions about the Penshurst bunch are best directed toward RK, this blog's resident Sidney authority. Wait, you mean everyone doesn't have a resident Sidney authority? Puh-shaw!

      To everyone else: this blog doesn't give a tinker's sugar-coated damn who Shakespeare was (I'm still inclined to accept that Shakespeare was Shakespeare), and all this rather idle speculation seems to me quite trivial-- and probably, but not necessarily, irrelevant. But if this muddle intrigues you, go wild.