MacDonald Pairman Jackson FNZAH is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

scholar of English literature. Most of his work is on English Renaissance drama; he specializes in

authorship An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

attribution. He is also internationally recognized for his work on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 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 (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

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 Professor of English at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

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 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 (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Ma ...

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 constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...

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-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

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 Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

(FRSNZ).

Writing and research

Jackson's most recent work was a year-long examination of the disputed authorship of the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas", also called "

A Visit from St. Nicholas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

." 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 book, ''Who Wrote'' ''"The Night Before Christmas"?'' identifies 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 more recent 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 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 current research projects are 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 is 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) 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-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, ''Shakespeare Q ...

, 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'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 University of Auckland faculty Alumni of Merton College, Oxford 1938 births Living people Literary scholars People educated at Auckland Grammar School University of Auckland alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand People from Auckland