Jack M. Shuttleworth, Ph.D. Brigadier General, USAF (ret.)
Professor of English, Emeritus, USAF Academy
The short version: I became an Oxfordian because Susanna and Judith Shaksper were illiterate. The idea that the great author who created, clearly admired, maybe adored, articulate, bright, witty women would not educate his own daughters made the whole Stratfordian hoax unbelievable.
The rest of the story: As an Ohio Wesleyan undergraduate, I had two semesters of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry; the author’s biography was totally ignored. “It’s the plays that are important, not the writer.” So, we concentrated on the meaning of the language and the dramatic or emotional effects of the action. A few years later in 1959 while stationed in Germany, I made my pilgrimage to Stratford, saw the church, the monument and “The Birthplace.” In the afternoon in a souvenir shop, buying a Shakespeare mug, I asked the shopkeeper “What happens if they find out that someone else was the true author?” The answer: “We’ll just pack up and go to the other chappie’s place.” My early doubt was growing.
Then graduate school at Stanford and the University of Denver where more Shakespeare classes focused on the textual history, editorial practices, 17th century vocabulary, all the aspects of publication as scholars R.B. McKerrow and Fredson Bowers had proposed, but never on the historical context of the plays, nor the author’s life. The plays had apparently simply materialized from the unimportant author. It is now clear that none of the great professors I had would deal with the scant Stratford biography.
The next stage (1964) was teaching very bright cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. I began with the practices I had been taught—focus on the plays, ignore the author. At the same time, in our American lit classes, we looked at Faulkner ‘s experiences in Mississippi and WWI, and at Hemingway’s life in Chicago and in WWI. Then came Ogburn and Whalen and my Shakespeare class changed. If it was important to learn about the authors to understand American lit, it was doubly important to learn about the greatest of authors. My cadets and I read Whalen’s book and researched the lives of Shaksper and DeVere before having formal authorship debates. Inevitably facts and common sense prevailed, though as one student said, “Of course Oxford was the author, but I liked the other story better.” Nevertheless, their study gave us a framework for a deeper understanding of the plays.
I’ve been a publicly-professed Oxfordian for at least 45 years, now a life member of the SOF and the DeVere Society, and I still find the authorship question a fascinating challenge.
