TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A University of Alabama professor has received a 2002 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the most prestigious honors for academic achievement in the nation.

Dr. Gary Taylor, professor of English and director of the endowed Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, is one of approximately 200 scholars selected nationwide from 3,500 nominees for the Guggenheim.

He is one of three UA professors to have received this fellowship in the last five years, all from the Department of English.

The Guggenheim Foundation awards fellowships to scientists, scholars, and artists who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. In 2001 the organization awarded an average of $36,000 to its recipients.

Taylor has been at the center of literary research since 1985 when he discovered a previously unknown poem by William Shakespeare in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England. The discovery was made while Taylor served as general editor (with Stanley Wells) of “William Shakespeare: The Complete Works,” published by Oxford University Press in 1986. The most thoroughly researched edition ever produced, the result of more than 26 man-years of work, it forms the basis of the popular Norton Shakespeare textbook.

Taylor’s unique and innovative theories on the development of popular culture, as well as, his reputation for lively interviews have prompted media attention in both North America and Britain. He has been interviewed by “Good Morning America,” “Fresh Air,” the British Broadcasting Corporation, salon.com and Newsweek.

His work has earned him a reputation for presenting new and controversial interpretations of Shakespeare's work and the culture of the Renaissance. In his widely acclaimed 1996 book, “Cultural Selection,” Taylor advanced a theory of cultural development based on biological theories of evolution to explain why some artistic works survive over time while others do not.

“Cultural Selection” built on the ideas he developed in his 1989 book, “Reinventing Shakespeare: A Cultural History from the Restoration to the Present.” In it, Taylor examined the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to Shakespeare's fame. Taylor was both praised and criticized for suggesting that Shakespeare’s revered place in the literary canon was influenced by factors other than genius, and the book sparked considerable academic debate.

Taylor’s 1985 book, “To Analyze Delight” was the winner of the Choice Award for “Outstanding Academic Book.”

Taylor's most recent book -- “Castration: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood” -- has been praised as “a passionate, provocative history of ideas about male sexuality.” He is general editor, along with Dr. Phillip Beidler, UA professor of English, of “Signs of Race,” a series to be launched later this year by Palgrave, which examines the relationship of race and ethnicity to the history of literatures in English. One of the first volumes in the new series will be Taylor's new book “Buying Whiteness: Race, Sex, Slavery,” which asks, “When did people in England and American start calling themselves white and why?"

Prior to coming to The University of Alabama in 1995, Taylor served on the faculties of Oxford University and Brandeis University, respectively.