Shakespiritualism : Shakespeare and the occult, 1850-1950 / Jeffrey Kahan.

Contents: Shakespeare, poet of the impossible -- Crypts and crypto-graphology -- The afterlives of the authors -- Furness and his poetic spirit -- Knight visions -- Beyond the academic fields we know -- Appendix A: Glossary of spiritualist terms and techniques -- Appendix B: A note on the spelling of spirit., Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Shakespeare's ghost appeared again and again at seance tables in London, Paris, Melbourne, and Cape Town, as well as in smaller, rural settings. This study concerns itself with a now-forgotten religious group, Spiritualists, and how its ensuing discussions of Shakespeare's meaning, his writing practices, his possible collaborations, and the supposed purity and/or corruption of his texts anticipated, accompanied, or silhouetted similar debates in Shakespeare studies.