Q&A: London professor honoured after teaching Shakespeare for nearly 50 years

Distinguished professor Paul Werstine has made it his life's work to teach and edit the plays and poems of William Shakespeare.

The King's University College faculty member is known around the globe for co-editing the Folger Shakespeare Library editions, the world's most prestigious collection of Shakespeare. Werstine is retiring after nearly five decades of teaching Shakespeare, and will mark the milestone with a conference coming to London, titled Shakespeare After Werstine.

Werstine joined London Morning host Andrew Brown on Shakespeare Day to talk about his career and the three-day conference coming to King's on May 1.

The following has been edited for length and clarity:

Andrew Brown: Almost five decades. How did Shakespeare end up becoming the focus of your career?

Paul Werstine: Well, I kind of got into it through the back door. When I was in graduate school, I was interested in the way the technologies of printing in Shakespeare's time might have affected the text we've received as his. That field was most advanced in terms of Shakespeare studies, so I got interested in him through that route. It certainly became a lifelong commitment, even if I came at it in an odd way.

AB: What did you end up learning about how the printing of the day affects the text that we have now?

PW: There were very limited resources for the printing of his collected works, published in 1623. The printer sometimes had to figure out exactly what text would go on each page and even work backwards — setting six pages consecutively, for example.

So all these determinations had to be made about how to get the words onto the page. Sometimes that meant splitting up his pentameters, his ten-syllable lines, or it seems, even leaving things out. It's fascinating, and it continues to be.

AB: Shakespeare was born about 500 years ago now. What do we actually know about him?

PW: Not all that much. Although we do have a documentary record. We don't know when he was born, actually — we know when he was baptized: April 26. And we know when he died: April 23, because it's on his gravestone. In those days, the state didn't keep birth records; the church did.

So we assume he was born on April 23 just to keep things simple. It's not unreasonable — people were concerned to baptize their children as soon as possible after birth because of high infant mortality. They didn't want their children being stuck in a theological category called limbo. The Protestant Church had done away with that idea, but old beliefs die hard.

Then we don't hear of him again until he gets married and has a couple of children in the 1580s. After that, we don't hear from him again until the 1590s, when he's already an important part of an acting company in London [England]. So we do have a record of him—it's just not as full as we'd like it to be.

LISTEN | Professor Paul Werstine on a life dedicated to Shakespeare:

AB: So then our understanding of him in popular culture — how true do you think it is?

PW: He has this extraordinary reputation, which probably peaked in the 19th century. He was seen as the world's greatest playwright. There's even visual art from that time depicting him sailing down the Thames with Queen Elizabeth, making him appear much grander than he actually was in his own time.

But many people have connected with Shakespeare and with each other through his work. That's what makes him so easy to teach, compared to his contemporaries. You can find yourself in Shakespeare. I've seen generations of students do just that, and it's been a real pleasure to teach them.

AB: Why do you think that is? Why do people find themselves in Shakespeare?

PW: He seems to have had an incredible capacity for imagining human life and personality.

When it comes to our strongest emotions — jealousy, passion, love, ambition — there are ways for all of us, all around the world, to connect with those feelings. And as I say, I've had that experience with a great many students.

AB: There's a conference being held in your name next week. It's called Shakespeare After Werstine. How are you feeling about that?

PW: Well, I find the title — which I didn't pick — a little embarrassing, as if Shakespeare is going to be changed by Werstine in any way. But I'm thrilled that this conference is happening. I owe my colleagues a huge debt for the work they've done to put it together and to bring in people from Europe, the States and Canada to talk about the present state of Shakespeare editing.

I've worked on Shakespeare editing my whole career, and they're kind enough to be delivering papers that talk about how the field has changed, partly as a consequence of work I've done, and certainly due to the work of many others. This is the first conference of its kind at Western, and it will be a real thrill to talk to and listen to these people.

AB: Do you think your relationship with Shakespeare will change after your retirement?

PW: It won't, actually. The college is still giving me a place to work. I've been working on what's called a variorum edition of Romeo and Juliet for my whole career — alongside other editing work — and I'm still at it.

I think my relationship with Shakespeare is going to continue. I plan to walk in every day and keep working on that edition until I finish it. It'll probably take me a few more years.

The Shakespeare After Werstine: Editing Shakespeare Now conference is happening at King's University College from May 1 to 3. For more information and to register, visit the university's website here.