{"id":795,"date":"2023-06-08T14:18:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T14:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.english-culture.com\/?p=795"},"modified":"2025-05-09T16:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:38:13","slug":"william-shakespeare-and-john-florio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.english-culture.com\/william-shakespeare-and-john-florio\/","title":{"rendered":"William Shakespeare and John Florio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Shakespeare<\/a>
Shakespeare literary reputation and mysteries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

William Shakespeare and John Florio. The life of Shakespeare is a fine mystery, and I tremble every day lest something should turn up.<\/span>
\n Charles Dickens, 1847.<\/span><\/p>\n

N.B.<\/strong> To find out more about John Florio, Samuel Daniel, Edward de Vere, Mary Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, and other great authors of the English Renaissance you can read William Shakespeare Aphoristic Dictionary<\/a> with essays edited by Carl William Brown, a great book of 600 pages. It includes 8 essays, with hundreds of quotes, a rich preface to explain Shakespeare, his work, his talent and his time; 200 opinions and value judgments on Shakespeare by great authors and scholars; 562 entry words with more than 3,000 aphorisms; 90 famous texts and soliloquies of Shakespeare, extrapolated from the entire corpus of the Bard and a detailed commented biography. As a matter of fact we have, a dedication, a preface, an introduction, the following essays; aphoristic wisdom, Shakespeare time, Shakespeare greatness, Shakespeare reputation, English Renaissance, Shakespeare identity, Shakespeare sources; then we have the Aphoristic dictionary and Shakespeare famous texts, a conclusion text, plus the bibliography, the list of entry words and the Index of contents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shakespeare is – let us put it this way – the least English of English writers. The typical quality of the English is understatement, saying a little less than what you see. In contrast, Shakespeare tended toward the hyperbolic metaphor, and it would come to us as no surprise to learn that Shakespeare had been Italian, or Jewish, for instance.
\nJorge Luis Borges, Borges oral, 1979<\/span><\/p>\n

I dreamed then that the strongest minds, the wisest inventors, the most precise connoisseurs of thought, must be unknown people, frugal, people who die without divulging. Their existence was revealed to me by the very existence of brilliant, slightly less solid individuals.<\/span>
\nPaul Val\u00e9ry<\/span><\/p>\n

The Shakespeare industry is built upon a vast fictitious fantasy. Many people directly profit from this industry so therefore imagination is not free and conjecture is not cheap.<\/span>
\nCharles Hughes<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Florio’s possible involvement with the Folio is that we may never know its true extent. We cannot tell for certain whether the words were written by John Florio or William Shakespeare.<\/span>
\nSaul Frampton<\/span><\/p>\n

Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare until you can prove with actual documentary evidence that Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare.<\/span>
\nMark Andre Alexander<\/span><\/p>\n

When I read the poems and plays through the lens of Stratford, I get much insight and greatness but only from the plays themselves. Shakespeare the man leaves no mark on the plays as far as I can access. This violates my experience of almost every other great artist I know of.<\/span>
\nMark Andre Alexander<\/span><\/p>\n

As an Italian writer of aphorisms, literature lover, English teacher, trader and Internet publisher I don\u2019t think Florio was Shakespeare<\/a>, for different reasons, first of all because I believe that the Shakespearean macrotext is not the miracle of just a single person, what\u2019s more a work of art is not by an author and neither is life, as Carmelo Bene once affirmed; finally as our Juliet would say: \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.\u201d; and last but not least Florio had all the possibilities to publish all the plays he wanted with his name, so why using a pen name, but nonetheless the matter remains a real mistery, as the life of the great national bard of England. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway Florio was a great scholar, linguist, lexicographer, translator, and what\u2019s more he almost died a poor man, so we have a lot of things in common. What we can\u2019t absolutely deny is the enormous influence that his literary works had on the English language, culture and intertextuality of the writers of the period, included the superb Shakespeare\u2019s production and consequently our appreciation of it. All this said, as in the market we can\u2019t be sure of anything, the hypothesis being fascinating and what\u2019s more even Shakespeare through Iago once said: \u201cI am not what I am.\u201d while Matthew Gwinne, a doctor whose pen name was \u201cIl Candido\u201d in a sonnet devoted to his dearly esteemed friend and fellow wrote: \u201cI am, all that I am, Florio, thy debter.\u201d<\/span>
\nCarl William Brown<\/span><\/p>\n

A work of art is not by an author and neither is life.<\/span><\/span>
\nCarmelo Bene<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The native act and figure of my heart In compliment extern, \u2019tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.<\/span>
\nWilliam Shakespeare<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside of his dramas, Shakespeare isn’t as much alive as the polychrome bust on his grave. <\/span>
\nMario Praz<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Shakespeare authorship question<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Forgive thy friends: they would, but cannot praise, inough\u2019 the wit, art, language of thy PLAYES: forgive thy foes; they will not praise thee. Why? Thy Fate hath thought it best, they should envy.<\/span>
\nFaith, for thy FOXES sake, forgive them those who are not worthy to be friends, nor foes. Or, for their owne brave sake, let them be still fooles at thy mercy, and like what they will.<\/span>
\nJohn Florio (London 1607 Verses devoted to Ben Jonson for the publication of Volpone)<\/span><\/p>\n

As for critics I accompt of them as crickets (\u2026) they lurke in corners but catch cold if they look out (\u2026) they are bred of filth & fed with filth, what vermine to call them I know not, or wormes or flies or what worse? (\u2026) they do not seek honie with the bee, but suck poison with the spider. (\u2026) As for me, for it is I, and I am an Englishman in italiane; I know They have a knife at command to cut my throate \u201cUn Inglese Italianato \u00e8 un Diavolo incarnato\u201d.<\/span>
\n John Florio, To the Reader, Second Frutes<\/span><\/p>\n

L. May a man know your name I pray?<\/span>
\n G. Yea sir, why not? My name is William.<\/span>
\n L. I pray you sir tell me your name.<\/span>
\n G. I am called W. at your commandement.<\/span>
\n L. What countrey man, and of what place are you?<\/span>
\n G. I am Italian, and of Padoa, at your commandement.<\/span>
\n John Florio, Second Frutes, VI<\/span><\/p>\n

We neede not speak so much of love, al books are ful of love, with so many authours, that it were labour lost to speake of Love.
\nJohn Florio, First Fruites, Discourses uppon Musicke, and Love, 1578<\/span><\/p>\n

In truth I acknowledge an entyre debt, not onely of my best knowledge, but of all, yea of more then I know or can, to your bounteous Lordship most noble, most vertuous, and most Honorable Earle of Southampton, in whose paie and patronage I have lived some yeeres; to whom I owe and vowe the yeeres I have to live. <\/span>
\nJohn Florio<\/a>, A Worlde of Wordes, The Epistle Dedicatorie, 1598<\/span><\/p>\n

The Shakespearian oeuvre is that of an authentic, highly cultivated professional, who must have spent his life studying languages and teaching, a professional with all the characteristics of the linguist John Florio.<\/span>
\n Lamberto Tassinari<\/span><\/p>\n

All the \u201cfriends\u201d of Shakespeare who appear in the colourless biography of the man from Stratford are John Florio\u2019s historically documented friends – from Lord Southampton to William Pembroke. William Shakespeare\u2019s presumed godfathers were John Florio\u2019s well-known students and protectors. Ben Jonson considers Florio \u201chis loving Father and worthy Friend Master John Florio. Ayden of his Muses.\u201d. Similar tributes are shared by many other nobles.
\nLamberto Tassinari
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>
John Florio Portrait<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yea, but learning cannot be too common, and the commoner the better.<\/span>
\nJohn Florio<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as the Shakespeare authorship question is concerned we must remember what the great Italian genius Carmelo Bene used to say through this quote – A work is not by an author, and neither is life. – and I think this is the synthetic, modest and real lesson all the scholars should learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I want also to add that a great influence on the English language occurred in 1611, five years before Shakespeare died. This was the publication of the King James\u2019s translation of the Holy Bible, a 14th-century translation by John Wycliffe, The King James Version, as it is called, was completed in 1611.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, if Shakespeare gave the language its greatest poetry, the Bible gave it much of its greatest prose. The real interesting thing for our previous question is that this version of the Bible was not written by one man but by a team or committee of some 47 scholars. We know very little about them except that they were certainly men of literary genius, and we have their finished work as a proof. Therefore I must conclude that in my opinion also the Shakespeare corpus was certainly not the work of just one writer as a brilliant Italian scholar inspired by the mythical John Florio explains in this video, “the Shakespeare machine <\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=3VrXzOwzqAg&t=448s<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Carl William Brown<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.florioshakespeareauthorship.com\/<\/span><\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.resolutejohnflorio.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

On July 12, 2013 Saul Frampton published in The Guardian the first part of a long article Who Edited Shakespeare? and a second part on August 10 titled In search of Shakespeare\u2019s dark lady which open a new chapter in Shakespearian studies. Saul Frampton teaches at the University of Westminster, Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies. He is module leader for Reading the American Dream and Early Modern Identities. Four years after the book of Lamberto Tassinari John Florio The Man Who Was Shakespeare that was published in 2009, Frampton dares to establish, first time in the main stream a dangerous liaison between the linguist and translator of Jewish-Italian origin and the vacuous figure of the bard of Stratford or the actor, moneylender and playwright.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saul Frampton doesn\u2019t mention Tassinari’s work on Florio, however he expresses opinions as original and heretical as his! He also announces his forthcoming book on Shakespeare and Florio. Thanks to Frampton John Florio has now stepped into the foreground as the editor of the greatest writer in the English language. This would be a great honor in any case!<\/span>
\n www.guardian.co.uk\/books\/2013\/jul\/12\/who-edited-shakespeare-john-florio?INTCMP=SRCH#start-of-comments<\/span>
\n www.theguardian.com\/books\/2013\/aug\/10\/search-shakespeares-dark-lady-florio<\/span><\/p>\n

But let’s find out a bit more about the author of John Florio, the man who was Shakespeare. Lamberto Tassinari was born in Castelfiorentino and spent his childhood on the island of Elba. After obtaining a degree in Philosophy from the University of Florence, he lived in Rome, Milan and Turin where he worked as a teacher and in several publishing companies. He moved to Montreal in 1981. Two years later he was one of the founders of the transcultural magazine ViceVersa which he directed until its last issue in 1997.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 1982 and 2007, he taught Italian language and literature at the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al. In 1985 he published a novel, Durante la partenza, in 1999 a collection of essays, Utopies par le hublot and in 2008 Shakespeare? \u00c8 il nome d\u2019arte di John Florio. He is currently at work on his second novel and on a production of The Tempest to be staged on the island of Vulcano in the Aeolian Archipelago off Sicily. For the first time ever, the play\u2019s autobiographical nature will reveal the underlying, true identity of the Bard, John Florio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"William<\/a>
William Shakespeare true identity debate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Florio, an Elizabethan writer and courtier unknown to Shakespeare\u2019s readers, forgotten or ignored by scholars, a gifted translator, linguist and propagator of Italian, French and Spanish languages and cultures in the England of the Tudors and Stuarts assumes his true identity as the author of the plays and poems attributed to a Stratford actor, William Shackespeare, Shake-Speares or Shakespere. In 1623, the thirty-six plays written by John Florio were collected under his pen name Shakespeare and attributed to the actor. Since then, the greatest dramatic work of modernity has been associated to the insignificant life of an illiterate man. So goes history at times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why has this great Elizabethan, John Florio, been forgotten by scholars? There must be something rotten within the kingdom of Shakespearean Studies\u2026 John Florio, the son of an Italian protestant preacher with Jewish forebears exiled to London in 1550, opens a fascinating perspective: a fully European Shakespeare, a powerful transcultural writer, a unique linguist, an omnipresent courtier. Florio was the first translator in English of Montaigne\u2019 Essays and Boccaccio\u2019s Decameron, the author of the first, \u201cgrand\u201d Italian-English dictionary in 1598, the personal secretary of Queen Anne from 1603 to her death in 1619, the tutor, friend and prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the Earl of Southampton and of William Herbert 3d Earl of Pembroke, the friend of Giordano Bruno and more (\u2026)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Shakespeare is about to assume his true identity, that of John Florio, who defined himself Italian in speech, English at heart. The book reconstructs with rigour and passion the marvelous metamorphosis through which John Florio became the Bard on the banks of the Thames. A Shakespeare \u201cmade in Europe\u201d shows us that the birth of the modern world possesses a richness and a complexity that fills one with awe (\u2026)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

John Florio added more than a thousand new words to the English language, showing a linguistic creativity identical to the one attributed to William Shakespeare. Furthermore, Florio compiled the first Italian\/English dictionary, its 1611 edition contained 74,000 Italian words and 150,000 English words, one third more Italian words than the prestigious Accademia della Crusca\u2019s dictionary published in 1612 in Florence. Frances Yates, author of Florio\u2019s biography (1934), defines Florio\u2019s dictionary as the epitome of the era\u2019s culture. (\u2026)<\/span><\/p>\n

John Florio translated the Essays of Montaigne and Boccaccio\u2019s Decameron, two exceptional works. The \u201cidea\u201d of trans-lating these fundamental texts during such a crucial time for the development of English culture is in itself an extraordinary feat. Florio\u2019s translations prove that he is a great writer, a poet close in spirit and style to Shakespeare. If we keep in mind that Florio was writing \u201cin prose\u201d and not in \u201cverse\u201d like Shakespeare, their closeness becomes another coincidence. According to T.S. Eliot, the translation of Montaigne\u2019s work is a classic of English literature.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.johnflorio-is-shakespeare.com<\/a>\u00a0 print John Florio The Man Who Was Shakespeare by Lamberto Tassinari Giano Books 429 pages.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is in a name? A lot, in some instances.<\/span>
\nOf all of the specious, uninformed, deranged, foolishly asinine, evidence-free, baseless speculations of the anti-Shakespeare crowd, the only one I have even a modicum of fondness for is Giovanni Florio. To state his name that was is to encapsulate why he has never gained ground in the Authorship debate: He\u2019s FOREIGN \u2013 or at least foreign-ish! And he\u2019s NOT NOBLE! But if you accept the arguments of the Oxenfraudians regarding how one proves authorial identity, there is a lot to recommend Florio. Not anything like evidence, mind you.<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/oxfraud.com\/BC-florio<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The vast knowledge of Italian writers, some of whom had not yet been translated into English, could not have been known by the \u201cman from Stratford.\u201d One clear example is Giordano Bruno, a Neapolitan heretic philosopher burned at the stake by the Roman Inquisition in 1600. The presence of Bruno\u2019s thought and vocabulary in Shakespeare\u2019s works is evident \u2013 it is a \u201cphysical\u201d presence, which is refuted or ignored by Shakespearean scholars. This closeness is unexplainable if one considers the \u201cman from Stratford,\u201d but natural and normal if one remembers that John Florio and Giordano Bruno were house guests of the French ambassador in London for more than two years (from 1583 to 1585). Many of their works cross-reference each other.
\nLamberto Tassinari
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, as we can read in the Wikipedia article about John Florio<\/a> we can conclude adding to the debate these other critic considerations. Francis Otto Matthiessen, in his analysis of Florio’s translation of Montaigne’s Essays, suggested the similarity between Florio’s and Shakespeare’s style, concluding that “Shakespeare and Florio were constantly talking with the same people, hearing the same theories, breathing the same air.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A portrait of the real appearance of Shakespeare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Florio’s biographer Clara Longworth de Chambrun made an extensive analysis of Florio’s dramatic dialogues of First Fruits, Second Fruits and passages from Montaigne’s Essays, doing a comparison with Shakespeare’s dialogues and pointing out the similarities between the two writers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Same textual and linguistic analysis has been done by Rinaldo C. Simonini, who compared Florio’s dramatic dialogues of First Fruits and Second Fruits with Shakespeare’s plays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frances Yates suggested that the vexed question of the relationship between John Florio and Shakespeare requires a fresh new consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saul Gerevini and Giulia Harding have also argued that John Florio’s language appears poetically similar to that of Shakespeare.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stuart Kells has suggested that John Florio worked as collaborator of Shakespeare’s plays along with Ben Jonson and as editor of the First Folio.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saul Frampton in a Guardian’s article published in 2013, has suggested that Florio was the editor of the First Folio, stating that “We cannot tell for certain whether the words were written by John Florio or by William Shakespeare.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremy Lester argues a far deeper implication of John Florio in the production of Shakespeare’s play than previously thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.<\/span>
\nWilliam Shakespeare<\/span><\/p>\n

Profonda magia \u00e8 sempre trar il contrario dopo aver trovato il punto de l’unione.<\/span>
\nGiordano Bruno<\/span><\/p>\n

E’ vero, \u00e8 vero senza errore, \u00e8 certo \u00e8 verissimo: ci\u00f2 che \u00e8 in alto \u00e8 come ci\u00f2 che \u00e8 in basso, e ci\u00f2 che \u00e8 in basso \u00e8 come ci\u00f2 che \u00e8 in alto, per fare il miracolo della cosa unica.<\/span>
\nErmete Trismegisto<\/span><\/p>\n

To find out more about this matter follow this link:<\/span>
\n http:\/\/www.daimon.org\/lib\/aforismi_geniali_di_w_shakespeare_new_edition.htm<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Shakespeare dictionary<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n