24 Jun 2015

(186) Shakespeare expert Gary Taylor compares Oxfordian Richard Waugaman with a holocaust denier...

For a Stratfordian expert such as  Gary Taylor, academic freedom means the freedom to silence dissent.


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Former Journal Memoria editors Luciana PirĂ© and Mario Valenti had invited Richard Waugaman to contribute to the volume’s 2015 special issue on “Shakespeare Biography.”

Professor Gary Taylor explained to Richard M.Waugaman why these two (previous) editors of the volume had been pushed aside and why his already accepted article had been trashed without notice or rationale, and why he, Taylor had assumed the helm of authority at the beleaguered but aptly titled,  Memoria di Shakespeare:
(Details  Linda Theil)

Taylor wrote in his letter to Waugaman:
"This change is due to my own involvement in the volume. The editorial board was concerned about some of the contributions invited by the previous co-editors. I agreed to help by stepping in, with Professor Colombo, as new co-editor. But my acceptance was conditional on rejection of certain contributions, like yours, which seem to me profoundly unscholarly, and which would have the effect of undermining the credibility and status of other contributions to the volume.....my objections to your position about Shakespeare’s biography cannot be described as in any way institutional or based on a conflict of interest. I simply find your reasoning, and your evidence, as unconvincing as those of Holocaust deniers, and other conspiracy theorists.
I understand that you are chargrined about the change of policy at the journal. But the previous co-editors, who contacted you, were themselves guilty of a breach of good faith, in committing the journal to positions conflicted with the intentions and desires of the journal’s founders.
   Sincerely,   Gary Taylor

GaryTaylor must have realized that publishing Waugamans article would undermine the status and the credibility of all Stratfordians. There  can be little doubt that for a Stratfordian such as  Gary Taylor,
 academic freedom means the freedom to silence dissent.