G. B. Harrison

G. B. Harrison (14 July 1894 – 1 November 1991) was one of the leading Shakespeare experts of his time and the editor of the Shakespeare Penguin Classics. During his professional career, Harrison was an English professor at both Queen's University and the University of Michigan. He was a firm believer in traditional Catholicism and was a member of the Advisory Committee of the International Commission of English in the Liturgy. The Advisory Committee was in charge of overseeing and organizing work on a modern English translation of the Latin Mass.

Harrison grew up being read to. Soon he and Walter were demanding their favorite stories and seeking new ones. His mother took him to a kindergarten for both boys and girls, where Harrison slowly expanded his interest in reading until he could read for himself.

Harrison served in both World Wars. For most of World War I, he was based in Lucknow, India as a Second Lieutenant in the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey). He noted it consisted of the only white troops in the garrison. He wrote to his parents nearly every day and noted the everyday aspects of life from training exercises and drills, to pickup sports matches, to sightseeing excursions. He kept careful track of whether or not he received mail in reply and often reminded his parents that their letter writing frequency was not quite up to par. The Christmas package that they sent, was, Harrison feared, at the bottom of the ocean, along with the ship that had been carrying it. Later on, Harrison was stationed in Mesopotamia (G. B. Harrison letters to parents).

Family and personal life On 9 April 1919 Harrison married his wife, Dorothy. Together, the two had four children: Maurice, Joan, Michael and Anthony. When this scheme took effect in the year 1939, Harrison was not invited to accompany the college in exile. He applied to a vast number of places for work and this number included "all the universities in Canada" Harrison found a way to convey historic events in a creative and engaging way in his Elizabethan Journals which included An Elizabethan Journal: Being a Record of Those Things Most Talked of During the Years 1591-1594, and A Last Elizabethan Journal. In his Jacobean Journals, Harrison proves adept at writing in and simulating seventeenth century style prose. As in the Elizabethan Journals, Harrison searches through primary historical evidence and weaves it into an engaging narrative in the form of multiple journals published under the titles: A Jacobean Journal: Being a Record of Those Things Most Talked of During the Years 1603-1606, Other notable works include biographies centered on John Bunyan and the Earl of Essex (G. B. Harrison Papers, Biography). Instead of solely focusing on just the professor, the book also questions and encourages what students think. Harrison's original goal, as he states in the introduction, was to answer a question that his graduate assistant had earnestly asked as the pair were walking through Angell Hall at the University of Michigan. His graduate assistant boldly inquired after what Harrison was "trying to accomplish in [his] teaching and study of English literature." After pursuing various lines of inquiry with professors in all areas of the department, Harrison realized that no one had a ready and genuine answer to his graduate assistant's question. Not even Harrison himself had been able to answer without circling around the heart of the matter. Thus, in The Profession of English, Harrison sets out to answer this question and explore the broader implications of reading and studying English.

While G. B. Harrison was interested in and did write fiction, he ultimately ended up only publishing one novel. The Fires of Arcadia was published in 1956. It follows the life of a young lad and describes the various adventures that pepper his college experience.

Later, in 1985, Harrison published his memoir, One Man in His Time. He explores all aspects of and tries to make sense of his life in regards to the snippets of memory that pertain to the ordinary, everyday events of life. Everyone is, in a sense, only a product of the time that he or she lives in.

Later years and retirement After a long, successful career, G. B. Harrison and Dorothy retired to New Zealand, and Harrison wrote and published his memoir. George Bagshawe Harrison died at his New Zealand home on 1 November 1991.