Arthur Phillips set a formidable goal for himself with his new novel, The Tragedy of Arthur. In it, a man named “Arthur Phillips” is given a lost Shakespeare play by his dying father. All the experts think it’s real, except Arthur, who is certain it’s another of his father’s frauds.

The book’s most impressive feat is the disputed play at its center: the real Arthur Phillips actually wrote a full-length play in the style of Shakespeare.  The standards he set for himself couldn’t have been higher — he consulted with experts and tried writing something that could pass as the Bard’s own. 

But when he spoke about it with Kurt Andersen, Phillips said faking Shakepeare was no great shakes: “If you are someone who can make things up, and can do some research, and can count to ten syllables in a line, you can do it.”