Webinar - Who Wrote That? Authorship Controversies from Moses to Sholokhov

Almost every field of historical and literary study has one or more authorship controversies involving texts for which the question of who wrote them has been in doubt. One of the aims of Who Wrote That? is to provide an introduction to anyone who is interested in reading more about authorship controversies or in trying to understand what these controversies are about. For that purpose, Donald Ostrowski selected nine cases from around the world for discussion, which include such texts as the Pentateuch; the Analects; the "Secret Gospel of Mark"; letters attributed to Abelard and Heloise; the Compendium of Chronicles and letters attributed to Rashid al-Din; the Shakespeare canon; works, letters, and translations attributed to Prince Andrei Kurbskii; the Ossian cycle; and The Quiet Don. Another aim of the book is to focus attention on the arguments and methods that have been used to analyze issues of authorship attribution. Doing so could be helpful to those in any particular area of study who might be unaware (or only somewhat aware) of a similar controversy in another area of study, for example, in Chinese or Mongol history. Finally, the long-range goal of the book is to contribute to laying the groundwork for an eventual general field of authorship studies. 

Donald Ostrowski is Research Advisor in the Social Science and Lecturer in History at Harvard University's Extension School. He is the author of more than 150 publications including his edition of The Povest vremennykh let [Tale of Bygone Years], which received the Early Slavic Studies Association Award for Distinguished Scholar- ship. 

Members can receive 30% off of Who Wrote That? with the code: 09FLYER.

7:00pm webinar, gratis. Advance registration required. Registrants will receive the link to view the lecture in the confirmation email.