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Response to Elliot and Valenza, “And then there were none”

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Abstract

In “And Then There Were None,” Ward Elliot and Robert Valenza report on the work of the Shakespeare Clinic (Claremont McKenna Colleges, 1987–1995). Working from popular theories that William Shakespeare is not the true author of the plays and poems ascribed to him, Elliot and Valenza cast a broad net to find another writer whose distinctive linguistic features match those of the Shakespeare canon. A regime of 51 tests was designed whereby to compare Shakespeare's drama with 79 non-Shakespearean (or at least noncanonical) plays. Success rates at or near 100% are reported for the Elliot-Valenza tests in distinguishing Shakespeare from non-Shakespeare. A smaller battery of tests was designed for distinguishing Shakespeare poems from nondramatic texts by other poets, with similar success rates being reported. But many of the Elliot-Valenza tests are deeply flawed, both in their design and execution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vassar College Box 388, 12601, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA

    Donald W. Foster

Authors
  1. Donald W. Foster
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Additional information

Donald Foster is the Jean Webster Professor of Dramatic Literature in the Dept. of English at Vassar College.

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Foster, D.W. Response to Elliot and Valenza, “And then there were none”. Comput Hum 30, 247–255 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00055108

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00055108

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