ABSTRACT
Some twenty years ago, just after the publication of Alternative Shakespeares, I was interviewed for an academic post, and once the initial pleasantries had been dispensed with, I was asked by a member of the panel, who apologised in advance, the following ‘hostile’ question: ‘Don’t you think that, given your interests in Literary Theory and Textual Bibliography, you are in danger of becoming schizophrenic?’ My response was immediate, accustomed as I was at that time to having to defend my interests in both these fields of study: ‘May I answer in a hostile manner?’ My interlocutor nodded his head in polite assent, but he was clearly not prepared for the directness of my response: ‘What do you know about Textual Bibliography?’ The panel giggled nervously. He did not reply, and I was not offered the post.
