Pseudonymous Shakespeare : Rioting Language in the Sidney Circle

In the course of unmasking ''R.L.'', Penny McCarthy scrutinizes devices employed by writers in the Sidney coterie. Among McCarthy''s stunning-but solidly supported-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 program 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.

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.