Does anybody know where all the Shakespeare Forums are hiding? I’m surprised to discover very few. I see Savage Shakespeare, but is that all?
A friend who runs a popular Hemingway site told me that his attempt to start up a forum was a big disaster as it was rapidly swamped with people wanting answers to their homework questions, instead of people who wanted to actually discuss Hemingway, so he took it down. I wonder if Shakespeare sites suffer from the same problem?
Despite it’s name, the “Cafeteria” message board at http://www.shakespearehigh.com seems to have more serious readers than lazy students.
SPARKNOTES has some decent conversations on Shakespeare and his assorted plays. Of course there are also the unending homework questions, trivial inquiries, and banal inanities.
Try: http://www.sparknotes.com/home/english/boards – and look for Shakespeare.
For more sophistication and heady commentary try:
http://www.shaksper.net/
On this one I suggest one lurk long before contributing.
Thanks! I’ll have to check those out. Having not participated in much Shakespeare discussion (being a lifelong computer geek) I’m not yet tired of the banal inanities :).
I think that Shakespeare High, Savage Shakespeare and SparkNotes all have value for different audiences. I belong to all of them but tend toward Shakespeare High. I enjoy Savage Shakespeare and find John Savage to be a very fine moderator. My schedule permits only one so I tend to contribute to S High as a moderator.
http://www.shakespearefellowship.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php
Mostly about Edward de Vere’s authorship of the Shakespeare works.