The New York Times (front page): “Plagiarism Software Unveils a New Source for 11 of Shakespeare’s Plays … Dennis is the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community”
The Guardian (Sunday Observer Edition): “A rare 16th-century book offers ‘compelling evidence’ that William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline was inspired by a now-lost play by Sir Thomas North.”
Boston Globe Magazine (cover story): “Dennis McCarthy, a self-taught scholar working from his dinner table, is challenging decades of scholarship on the origins of the Bard’s greatest work.”
Inside Edition: “After using plagiarism software, McCarthy has suggested that Shakespeare borrowed heavily from a man named Sir Thomas North. Investigative journalist Michael Blanding details McCarthy’s findings in the new book “North by Shakespeare.” [Fun video summary of the subject.]
U.S. News: “I think they (McCarthy and June Schlueter) have done the world a great favor by finding this manuscript. I don’t think there’s any question that Shakespeare read it.”
The Christan Science Monitor: Review of Michael Blanding’s “North by Shakespeare”: “The most elegant proposed solution to the authorship question to appear in many decades…scholars who simply ignore it do so at the peril of their reputations. ”
Smithsonian Magazine: “North by Shakespeare builds upon extensive research conducted over the course of 15 years by self-educated scholar Dennis McCarthy. Using modern plagiarism software and a sleuth’s keen eye, McCarthy has uncovered numerous examples of phrases written by the Bard that also appear in text attributed to North, a prolific writer, translator, soldier, diplomat and lawyer of his time.”
Philadelphia Inquirer “Lafayette College scholar (June Schlueter) and colleague discover massive, unknown source of Shakespeare’s plays”
The Guardian, “New sources for Shakespeare do not turn up every day … This is a truly significant one that has not heretofore been studied or published.”
The (London) Times: “A once in several generations discovery”
Still, more press coverage of North-related discoveries can be found here: The Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Los Angeles Times, Atlas Obscura, DigBoston, and Slate.com. And it has generated still other press in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, Germany, Romania, India, Israel, China and elsewhere around the globe.
The New York Times: “The Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community… A once in a generation–or several generations–find.”
U.S. News: “I think McCarthy and Schlueter have done the world a great favor.”
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