The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly

In "The Boy Who Would be Shakespeare" Doug Stewart tells the story of an 18th century teenager who forges minor and major works by Shakespeare so successfully that many believed the works to be genuine after William Henry Ireland had confessed to writing them himself. Stewart's engaging and accessible treatment delves into the reasons Ireland would attempt such an audacious fraud and the reasons so many, including the boy's own father, would believe it. In doing so it also explores the fascinating story of how Shakespeare went from an obscure stage performer to "the Immortal Bard." It was only due to the fact the Shakespeare died in relative obscurity that 200 years later there was a dearth of information, and especially artifacts, about his life, leaving a cult of Shakespeare fans who were willing to tricked into believing that the gaps had been filled in. No matter that the facts don't quite make sense, the signatures don't match, and the poetry does not hold up to the genuine; the lost Shakespeare papers suddenly found in a mysterious trunk are the real thing, because we want them to be. Stewart successfully portrays the story as a reflection of its time. He describes an odd relationships between the members of the Ireland family, but then steps back to point out that as odd as these characters may appear, they were not that far off the norm for Georgian England. He shows major cultural and literary figures being duped by the Shakespeare manuscripts, but also depicts the voracious appetite of a culture that is just beginning to become fascinated with the minutiae of famous people's lives. Perhaps more significantly Stewart is also telling a personal story, of a boy who sets out to create from scratch a treasured artifact to please his father, a man who was much more likely to praise a red velvet purse once owned by Ann Boleyn than he was his own son. Stewart shows great sympathy towards Ireland's frustration at being dismissed by his father as "a boy of no promise" and his father's refusal to believe him even capable of creating the forged documents. Though the book is well researched and there are thorough references to the sources of the story, Stewart's sympathy with William Henry Ireland, a confessed forger whose confession "if true proves him a liar," pushes this book more toward the popular than the scholarly history. As such it is a great story that would be a good recommendation for anyone interested in cultural and literary history.

One of the pleasures of "The Boy Who Would be Shakespeare" is the skillful way it brings a long-ago, faraway place to vivid life and shows us surprising similarities between our own fame-drunk, sensation-addicted culture and the crazes and obsessions of that earlier time. Another is the all-too-human story it tells about a father and son locked in a tragic tangle of love and disappointed expectations. I hope someone is working on the movie version--it would make a fantastic film.

I loved "The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly" and wouldn't put it down. Like some of the best work of Jill Lepore, it made a distant historical era come alive with vivid characters (like the delightfully pompous father/Shakespearean collector Samuel Ireland) and places, from the antiquarian warrens of Wych Street to the raucous Drury Lane Theatre crowds. But as much as I was caught up in the history, it was the quest of a son seeking approval from a distant father that brought emotional power to Doug Stewart's wry re-telling of this true tale of hoax and hope.

The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly, recounts an amazing story. And perhaps most astounding, a true story. It is one of those tales that reads like great fiction, but is indeed fact. It tells the tale of William Henry Ireland, a simple law clerk with a rather unimpressive life, who wants to impress his father. To do so, he forges a document that he knows his father would love for his collection, a document signed by William Shakespeare. Like many lies, this one starts off simply and builds and builds until the lie takes on a life of it's own. Before long, William Ireland is producing many documents by Shakespeare, and eventually even pens a play by Shakespeare that he passes off as a new found treasure. The astounding part of the story is that well respected scholars, leaders and experts all believed that these documents were indeed penned by Shakespeare. Even the fake play that Ireland wrote was accepted by Richard Sheridan, a leading writer and producer at the time, and presented at the Drury Lane Theater to sell-out crowds.Time after time, things that should have shown Ireland up as a fraud take an almost incredible and often comic twist, and wind up convincing people further of the authenticity of the documents. I can't recommend this work enough. It is a fabulous and engaging read, and Mr. Stewart has done a masterful job at making what might have been just a brief historical side-note full bodied and vastly entertaining.

"In this true account it's the year 1795 and a young 19 year old legal assistant discovers an original manuscript by William Shakespeare - or does he? The entire British Empire demands to know every aspect of the claim and discovery. Eventually the play is produced at Drury Lane Theatre in London. Due to all of the mysteries that still surround Shakespeare and his writing, this web of deception, or astounding discovery, fascinates everyone who ever read and loved Shakespeare."