Is Something Rotten in the Bard's Works?

Double Falsehood is no hoax, experts say

(NEWSER) - A Shakespeare play dismissed as a hoax for nearly 300 years has now been accepted as the real thing. Double Falsehood, now under the name of writer Lewis Theobal, was—as its author always claimed—based on William Shakespeare's long-lost script for Cardenio, scholars say. Shakespeare publisher Arden has now published the play under the Bard's name and made it available in a fully annotated form for the first time in 250 years. More»

Work is only living painting of the Bard

(NEWSER) - A family heirloom is thought to be the only surviving portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his life, the Telegraph reports. Art restorer Alex Cobbe noticed that a portrait of the Bard in the Folger Shakespeare library in Washington—known to be a posthumous copy of another work—bore an uncanny resemblance to a painting he had inherited. After extensive analysis of Cobbe’s painting, experts believe it was the basis for the Folger copy. More»

Shakespeare expert was Britain's most celebrated critic

(NEWSER) - Britain's most acclaimed literary critic has died aged 90. Sir Frank Kermode—described as "the finest English critic of his generation" by author David Lodge—analyzed everything from Shakespeare to Kurt Vonnegut to the Bible in a writing career that spanned 70 years, the New York Times reports. Kermode rose from humble origins to senior teaching positions at universities in both the US and Britain. More»

Star dishes on avoiding the fame 'trap' and doing what he always wanted to

(NEWSER) - Standing on the verge of Hollywood superstardom in the mid-'90s, Ethan Hawke blinked. Rather then sign on as the superhero flavor of the month, he turned instead to pal Richard Linklater's small indie flick Before Sunrise. The result has been a career trajectory not so much Hollywood glam as Big Apple cool—Hawke still does his movies, but he's a published author with a penchant for doing Shakespeare and directing off-Broadway plays (currently Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind) with his old cadre of friends. New York magazine stops in for a lengthy profile. More»

What will we still be talking about next decade? Britney, for one

(NEWSER) - The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York ’s picks:

• TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things Oprah Winfrey.
• Books: The Da Vinci Code for singlehandedly sustaining the book industry, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for blazing the trail of combining geek lit with high lit.