North Meets Shakespeare: How a Scandalous 1592 Pamphlet Exposed the Most Important Literary Relationship in History
The 1592 pamphlet Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit contains the first—and most infamous—allusion to William Shakespeare. It brands him an “upstart crow beautified with the feathers” of other writers and urges three gentleman playwrights to stop selling him their plays.
Yet, as North Meets Shakespeare reveals, there is far more to Groatsworth than that notorious insult. The pamphlet also delivers a blistering and sustained attack on the powerful North family and, remarkably, includes the earliest known biographical portrait of Thomas North—explaining why and how he came to write for Shakespeare.
After 400 years of speculation, North Meets Shakespeare (21,500 words; 108 pages, pdf and epub format) finally lays out the full story behind the most controversial pamphlet of the Elizabethan age. It establishes who wrote it, why it was written, and—most importantly—how it unlocks the mystery at the heart of the Shakespeare canon.