Give anonymous offenders enough verbal rope and column
inches, and they will hang themselves
for you, every time.
-Don
Foster, Author Unknown
In a culture where your fifteen minutes of fame are immediately followed
by a book deal, we are flooded with memoirs, but remarkably few are any
good. For the most part, our enjoyment of these books hinges almost
exclusively on our interest in the event that propelled the author into
the public spotlight, however briefly. Don Foster is a Shakespeare
scholar, Vassar
professor, and literary sleuth, and his book, Author Unknown,
is a glorious exception to this rule.
Though his name may be unfamiliar, many--at least the political junkies
among us--will remember the dramatic moment when Mr. Foster unmasked Joe
Klein as the man behind the nom de plume "Anonymous" and the author of
Primary
Colors. Foster, at the behest of New
York Magazine, had compared the text of the novel to the writings
of a number of the most likely suspects and had found so many stylistic
and linguistic similarities between the book and Klein's column--including
heavy use of adverbs, hyper hyphenation, Capitalization of Concepts, an
obsession with race and a certain uncomfortableness about sexual orientation
issues--that he was able to confidently pronounce Klein the author.
Despite Klein's fearsome denials and some brief second thoughts, Foster
stuck to his guns and eventually Klein was forced to acknowledge authorship,
when handwriting samples also tied him to the manuscript.
This book contains plenty of fascinating details about the techniques
Foster uses and the nitty gritty of the investigation, but the basics of
the "Anonymous" caper are fairly well known, in at least general form,
and, though this episode alone would probably suffice to sell the book,
it is the other cases that Foster deals with that really make the book
worthwhile. He starts with the work that brought him to the attention
of New York's editors, when as a graduate student he managed to use his
investigatory skills to attribute
a poem to William Shakespeare. This story provides a truly sublime
moment when, having submitted his dissertation to Oxford University Press
as a book proposal, he was turned down and received instead two anonymous
critiques of his work--apparently standard practice calls for scholars
to read and judge submissions anonymously--wherein both authors stated
that it is not possible to use only the internal evidence in written works
to attribute authorship. However, Foster then proceeded to compare
the critiques to the writings of various prominent Shakespeare scholars
and was able to discern precisely who had written them--perhaps predictably,
neither expert saw the humor in this this, but the reader surely will.
Despite these early rejections, Foster was eventually credited with having
discovered a new Shakespeare poem and write-ups in The New York Times
and elsewhere established him as perhaps the first, certainly the leading,
practitioner of literary forensics.
Later sections of the book deal with : his subsequent involvement in
the JonBenet Ramsey and Unabomber cases; a demonstration that Thomas Pynchon
was not the secret author behind a series of vituperative letters to the
editor of Mendocino County, California newspapers, signed by Wanda
Tinasky, the Fort Bragg Bag Lady; a tantalizing rumination on who may
have really written the infamous "Talking Points" of Lewinsky fame; and
a final chapter which pretty much demolishes the idea that Clement Moore
wrote the beloved poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The Talking
Points discussion is especially interesting, mostly because it remains
such a galling mystery, particularly for those of us who wanted Bill Clinton
led out of the White House in an orange jumper and handcuffs. Foster
is not able to pin the deed on a specific culprit, but does show conclusively
that the memo was not the exclusive work of Monica and her pal, Linda Tripp,
and points at clues in the language and legal sophistication of at least
the first page of the memo that seem to indicate it was most likely the
work of one of a handful of lawyers in the Clinton inner circle.
Recall that Clinton himself is a lawyer, but Foster does not pursue him
directly, focussing instead on Bob Bennett, Bruce Lindsey and Vernon Jordan.
He is hindered here by not having access to much written work by these
three men, but it would be fun to see what he could do with more evidence.
My only criticism, and it's a mild one, is that there's a little too
much "gee has my life become hectic" and "what have I gotten myself into."
This is self indulgent, almost self pitying, and is at odds with the genuine
excitement he obviously brings to his work. He does such a good job
getting us caught up in the thrill of the chase that his complaints about
the hectic lifestyle the work entails fall on deaf ears. These quibbles
aside, the book was one of the more pleasant surprises to come over the
transom here in quite awhile. This one is highly recommended.
(Reviewed:03-Nov-00)
Grade: (A)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-Don
Foster (Vassar English Department)
-Professor
Donald Foster
-ESSAY
: Literary Forensics : Don Foster, preeminent literary sleuth and author
of the recently published Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous, reveals
how his career as an English professor took an unexpected turn. (Don Foster,
Contentville)
-ESSAY
: SHAXICON '95 by Donald Foster, Vassar College
-EXCERPT
: First Chapter of Author Unknown
-INTERVIEW
: THE HEART OF MYSTERY : Computer analyses seem to confirm that an
elegy first published more than 350 years ago was, indeed, written by William
Shakespeare. Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses the bard's poem with Roger
Rosenblatt and Professor Donald Foster. (Online Newshour, PBS,
JANUARY 15, 1995)
-LETTER
: The Letters of Wanda Tinasky : A New Controversy! (Excerpts from
a letter to the editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, March 17, 1999,
signed "Prof. Donald Foster, Vassar College)
-NEWSGROUP
: From: Don
Foster <foster@vassar.edu>
Date: Sunday,
10 Mar 1996 14:02:32 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Funeral Elegy
-PLAY
: DON FOSTER, PRIVATE EYE (Vassar.edu)
-BOOK
SITE : Author Unknown On the Trail of Anonymous By Don Foster (FSB
Associates)
-Don Foster Page (Jameson WebbSleuths)
-PROFILE
: The Bard's Fingerprints : Donald Foster Uses high-powered Computer
Tests to Search for Shakespeare's Hidden Hand. His Critics Challenge Him
on Every Move. (CALEB CRAIN, Lingua Franca)
-PROFILE
: The Mysteries of the Moonlighting English Professor : Don Foster has
turned himself into the Sherlock Holmes of literary attribution. (Adam
Langer, Book Magazine)
-PROFILE
: Professor finds unlikely fame as language detective : Computer analysis
help a literature professor identify unknown authors (Holland Sentinel)
-PROFILE
: Transparent Eyeball: Book'em (JOANNE GORDON, Forbes)
-ETEXT
: William Shakespeare, "A Funeral Elegy for Master William Peter,"
(London: G.Eld for T.Thorpe, 1612). Normalized text, ed. Donald Foster
-ESSAY
: Arguments Against Foster and Others By Brooke Hamlett
-ESSAY
: The Ghost's Vocabulary : How the computer listens for Shakespeare's "voiceprint"
(Edward Dolnick, Atlantic Monthly)
-ESSAY
: Roles Shakespeare played : Technology has established Shakespeare
chose only minor roles that would not tax his limited histrionic talents
(N. A. KARIM, The Hindu)
-ESSAY
: Bacon and Shakespeare Cyphers (Virginia Fellows, Sir Bacon.org)
-ESSAY
: A Date with Anonymous (Spartacus)
-ESSAY
: Primary Colors of the Bible (Farrell Till, Skeptical Review)
-ARTICLE
: Did handwriting expert flip-flop on Ramsey ransom note? Attorney:
Professor first offered to help Ramseys before working with police
(Kevin McCullen, Rocky Mountain News
-ESSAY
: The Bombing of Judi Bari & Darryl Cherney : New Evidence
(Ed Gehrman, Sonoma County Free Press)
-ESSAY
: Beg, Borrow or ... While plagiarism accusations fly, the crime
gets harder to define (DWIGHT GARNER, Salon)
-TRANSCRIPT
: Ramsey Murder (48 Hours, CBS, April 8, 1999)
-REVIEW
: of Author Unknown by Don Foster (Adam Liptak, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of Author Unknown (David Kipen, SF Chronicle)
-REVIEW
: of Author Unknown (Ellen Clegg, Boston Globe)
-REVIEW
: of Author Unknown (Frank Lewis, City Paper)
-REVIEW
: of Author Unknown: On The Trail Of Anonymous
by Don Foster (Philip Hensher, Spectator uk)
-REVIEW
: of Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous by Don Foster : The
end of anon: literary sleuthing from Shakespeare to Unabomber : How was
the anonymous author of Primary Colors finally unveiled? In this exclusive
online essay from the London Review of Books, John Lanchester looks at
literary attribution and the Sherlock Holmes of the field, Don Foster (London
Review of Books)
-REVIEW
: of W. S. "A Funeral Elegy for Master William Peter." Read by Harry
Hill. Dir. Paul Hawkins. Text Ed. Donald W. Foster. (Sean Lawrence, University
of British Columbia)
GENERAL :
-ESSAY
: Information Technology in Humanities Scholarship: Achievements,
Prospects, and Challenges-The United States Focus (American Council of
Learned Societies Occasional Paper No. 37)
SHAKESPEARE :
-Shakespeare
Authorship Page
-REVIEW
: of THE NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE: PERICLES, PRINCE
OF TYRE. Edited by Doreen DelVecchio and Anthony Hammond and THE
NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE: KING EDWARD III. Edited by Giorgio Melchiori.
All His Children? : Standing up for the Bard's bastards (Jeffrey
Gantz, AUGUST 17, 1998, Boston Phoenix)
-REVIEW:
of ALIAS SHAKESPEARE: SOLVING THE GREATEST LITERARY MYSTERY OF ALL
TIME, By Joseph Sobran. Much Ado About Nothing : Or as the Bard never
said: "Enough of this crap!" (Jeffrey Gantz, NOVEMBER 10, 1997, Boston
Phoenix)
-ESSAY
: Arguments Against Foster and Others By Brooke Hamlett
-ESSAY
: The Meter and Structure By Taryn Peterson
-ESSAY
: Why I Am Not an Oxfordian by David Kathman
JONBENET :
-"REMEMBER
THE CHILD"
-Rocky
Mountain News : Ramsey Archives
-The
Daily Camera's Ramsey Archive, featuring more than 600 articles from
the Daily Camera - Boulder, Colorado's largest and only complete daily
newspaper
WANDA TINASKY:
-The Letters
of Wanda Tinasky
-Salon.com
Directory | Thomas Pynchon : complete listing of Salon articles on
Thomas Pynchon.
-ESSAY
: Finding V.(author Thomas Pynchon's book 'V')(Kenneth Kupsch)
-ESSAY
: The crying over Lot 49 of Thomas Pynchon's letters (DWIGHT
GARNER, Salon)
-Jack
Gillis Homepage
TALKING POINTS :
-ESSAY
: THE TALKING POINTS AND THE STARR REPORT : Did Kenneth Starr indulge
in prosecutorial misconduct in his handling of the "Talking Points"? (Skip
Fox, Ph.D., and Jack, Gillis, M.A., Graduate Department of English, Univ.
of Southwestern Louisiana, September 15, 1998)
PRIMARY COLORS :
-ARTICLE
: The Mystery No Insider Can Unravel (TIME)
-ARTICLE
: 'Newsweek' columnist says he authored 'Primary Colors' (USA Today)
-ARTICLE
: "Primary Colors" Joe Klein a.k.a Anonymous (April 3, 1998, CNN)
-ARTICLE
: Forensic expert who unmasked Joe Klein prefers to be anonymous herself
(Valerie Carino / Raleigh News & Observer)
-DISCUSSION
: PRIMARY ETHICS: IS THE JOE KLEIN/"ANONYMOUS" ISSUE THE
TIP OF THE ICEBERG? (Media Studies Center)
-INTERVIEW
: Primary Colors by Anonymous, has many wondering who wrote this thinly
veiled fictional look at Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the Presidency. Essayist
Roger Rosenblatt postulates who Anonymous might be, and reviews the merits
of the book. (Online Newshour, PBS)
-ESSAY
: Primary witness (Robert McCrum, Sunday February 20, 2000,
booksunlimited uk)
-ESSAY
: THE LIARS CLUB : Joe Klein is not only a disgrace to his profession,
he may be nuts, too. (DAVID CORN, Salon)
-ESSAY
: SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE : ANONYMOUS NO LONGER, COLUMNIST JOE KLEIN
TAKES SOME HEAT (MARGARET CARLSON, TIME)
-ESSAY
: Journalism: Joe Klein's Crime; Jessica Mitford's Legacy (Randolph
T. Holhut)
-ESSAY
: Will "Primary Colors" author score another win? : Joe Klein's new
roman à clef will be a tough sell (Craig Offman, Salon)
-ESSAY
: JOE KLEIN'S TRUE COLORS? : An Analysis of "Primary Colors"
by Another Anonymous (American Review)
-ESSAY
: Primary Responsibility : Journalist Joe Klein got rich off his 'Primary
Colors' hoax - but he lied to the public (AMY FIRIS, City Beat)
-ESSAY
: Primary Targets (James Fallows, NPR Commentary -- March 8,
1996)
-ESSAY
: JOE KLEIN'S "SHOCKING" CONFESSION : The Mainstream Media's Double
Standard (Edward Zehr, Washington Weekly)
-ESSAY
: Sloppy Joe : Media Rant on Primary Colors (Jon Katz,
Mediaville, Wired)
-ESSAY
: Regular Joe : Impolitic on Primary Colors (John Heilemann, Wired)
-ESSAY
: My Tryst With Anonymous (Charles McGrath, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY
: It beats working in the White House (Mugger, Jewish World Review)
-ESSAY
: Integrity, Politics, and the Art of the Possible (Peter Landstrom)
-ESSAY
: FROM “PERRY MASON” TO PRIMARY COLORS: USING FICTION TO UNDERSTAND
LEGAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS (JAMES L. MCDOWELL, Law in Popular Culture)
-ESSAY
: Lurking About in Hyde Park With The Disembody Politic (Alan J Rosenblatt,
George Mason University)
CLEMENT MOORE :
-ESSAY
: There Arose Such a Clatter : Who Really Wrote "The Night before Christmas"?
(And Why Does It Matter?) (Stephen Nissenbaum, Common Place)
