MacDonald Pairman Jackson FNZAH is a New Zealand scholar of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

. Most of his work is on English Renaissance drama; he specialises in authorship attribution. He is also internationally recognised for his work on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's texts.Who's Who in New Zealand 1991 and 1998 Editions

Personal background

Jackson was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

on 13 October 1938, the son of Donald Leslie Jackson and Margaret Wyld Pairman. He married Nicole Phillipa Cameron Lovett in 1964. He is currently

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Professor of English at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

Academic history and awards

Jackson was educated at Auckland Grammar School, obtained a BA from Auckland University in 1959 and an MA(English) in 1960. He attended

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

and qualified for B.Litt. in 1964. In 1964 he returned to Auckland University as a lecturer. He was appointed associate professor in 1978 and professor in 1989. Jackson obtained a Folger fellowship in 1989 and a

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...

fellowship in 1993. He was a Christensen Fellow at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

in 2000 and S T Lee Professorial Fellow at the School of Advanced Study,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

from January to June 2005. He received a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2000. He retired from the university in 2004. In 2008 he was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of the Humanities (FNZAH). In 2009 he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (FRSNZ).

Writing and research

Jackson's research includes a year-long examination of the disputed authorship of the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas", also called " A Visit from St. Nicholas." Jackson applied modern computational stylistics techniques to the corpora of verse left by both claimants, Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingston Jr., including a new test, statistical analysis of phonemes. His 2016 book, ''Who Wrote'' ''"The Night Before Christmas"?'' argues that Livingston is the true author and makes a significant contribution to the field of attribution studies. Jackson's ''Studies in Attribution: Middleton and Shakespeare'' (Salzburg, 1979) helped establish the dramatic canon of

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

. From 1984 to 1991 Jackson contributed the annual reviews of "Editions and Textual Studies" to Shakespeare Survey. Jackson has written thirteen books as either author or editor. His works include: * ''Determining the Shakespeare Canon: Arden of Faversham and A Lover's Complaint'' (Oxford, 2015) * ''Defining Shakespeare: 'Pericles' as Test Case'' (Oxford, 2003) – author * Second and third volumes of the Cambridge edition of ''The Works of John Webster'' (2003 and 2007) – co-editor with two others * The Oxford ''Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works'' (2007) – associate general editor * ''Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture'' (2007) – associate general editor * ''The Revenger's Tragedy'' and writing the essay "Early Modern Authorship: Canons and Chronologies" – editor and author The later three works won the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

Award for the best edition of the year and the Elizabeth Dietz Memorial Award for the best book published in early modern studies. In the field of early modern drama he has made over 200 contributions to books and academic journals. his research projects included Shakespeare and his contemporaries, New Zealand literature, Poetry in English, and a major project: a fourth volume of the Cambridge ''Works of John Webster''. Jackson was working on this together with David Carnegie and David Gunby.

Further interests

In addition Jackson is an anthologist, literary historian, and critic of New Zealand poetry. He contributed to the ''Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English'' (1991) edited by Terry Sturm, writing the chapter on "Poetry: Beginnings to 1945". He is a member of the editorial boards for the

Shakespeare Quarterly ''Shakespeare Quarterly'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America. It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, '' ...

, the Arden Critical Companions series, the Digital Renaissance Editions series, and The New Oxford Shakespeare. He was elected a Life Member of the Australian and New Zealand Shakespeare Association in 2004. Jackson has been involved in broadcasting, introducing

NZBC The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a State-owned enterprise, publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BC ...

's monthly poetry programme in 1966, and a New Zealand Book Awards judge. He has been a competitor in veterans running and his interests include music, theatre, film, and gardening. He currently resides in Auckland.

References

External links

Bio at the Oxford Middleton Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Macdonald Academic staff of the University of Auckland Alumni of Merton College, Oxford 1938 births Living people New Zealand academics of English literature People educated at Auckland Grammar School University of Auckland alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Academics from Auckland