“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”
~ Romeo & Juliet by “William Shakespeare”
BY ANY OTHER NAME is a tremendous novel. Taking as its premise that William Shakespeare could not possibly have written 37 plays, 156 sonnets and two (or three) long poems – The Rape of Lucrece, Venus & Adonis and The Lover’s Complaint – while he was employed as a full-time actor, with a side-hustle of businessman, Jodi Picoult posits that the famous plays were authored by many hands. The Henry plays were probably written by a stable of writers organized by the Earl of Oxford, while Mary Sidney, sister of poet Sir Philip Sidney, provided some of the other writing. But the star of this novel is the first female poet to publish her own work in England, (Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum in 1611): Aemilia Bassano, also known as Emilia Lanyer (1569-1645). Her Italian family probably came from Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto, and were the court musicians to Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
According to Ms. Picoult, Emilia is probably responsible for most of the Italian-themed plays such as The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, and Othello the Moor of Venice. She may have also written As You Like It, (with its strikingly feminist heroine Rosalind), although Mary Sidney (1561-1621) is another contender, as the first performance may have been given at Wilton House, a focus for her literary activity.
Ms. Picoult also argues that Emilia Bassano wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet. It is easy to see that A Midsummer Night’s Dream might have come from a woman’s pen. But Hamlet? However, events of Emilia’s early life support that contention. She was a ward of Susan Bertie Countess of Kent, whose brother Peregrine Bertie journeyed to Denmark in 1582. Bertie’s purpose was to invest the King Frederick II with the Order of the Garter. In return, he hoped that the Danes would protect English merchant ships from being molested while in Danish waters.
Records show that he arrived in Elsinore on 22 July 1582 and left on 27 September of that year. Suppose twelve or thirteen-year-old Aemilia Bassano accompanied him? This may have been a distinct possibility as Susan Bertie embarked on a second marriage that very same year.
How interesting to think that a moody teenaged boy may have been based upon the memories of a teenaged girl!
If you enjoy this sort of thing, you are in for a treat! Five Stars.
