Stratford Shakespeare scholar Roger Peters surrounded by his research and works. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Stratford Shakespeare scholar Roger Peters surrounded by his research and works. Photo / Alyssa Smith
A sonnet reading transformed into decades of research and knowledge for Stratford Shakespeare scholar Roger Peters.
Peters has spent decades researching and writing books and essays linking philosophy to Shakespeare’s work.
Although Peters was born in Whanganui, it was not where his family lived at thetime, he said.
“My dad was a traffic officer so we shifted a lot for his work. My mother had gone to Whanganui to visit family and gave birth to me. She then went back to Kaikohe, and from there we lived in Ohakune briefly, then Raetihi until I was 10. I then lived in Palmerston North before attending architecture [school] and Elam School of Fine Arts in 1974 [before] moving to Eltham in 1981.”
After moving around frequently as a child, Peters and his partner, Maree Horner, have spent nearly 40 years at their current home in rural Taranaki.
“All of my reading, research work and dive into deep philosophy started here. The property has been pivotal to it.”
While the writing started in Taranaki, he said his interest in Shakespeare started in Whanganui in 1995.
“I had an exhibition there. My friend was part of a Shakespeare group and he encouraged me to go. We spent a weekend reading Shakespeare’s sonnets, half on Saturday and the other half on Sunday.
“I spent 25 years studying Austrian philosopher Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, French painter-writer Marcel Duchamp, geologist and naturist Charles Darwin and French poet Stephane Mallarme. So, when I started investigating Shakespeare, I knew what I had learned about the other critical thinkers overarches and brings them and Shakespeare together.”
After thinking about the sonnets, he discovered he was most interested in the philosophy of The Bard, Peters said.
“At the next meeting, we were asked what we thought of the sonnets. My answer focused on philosophy, and from there I started unpacking the works to see what appealed to my investigative and philosophical mind. It was the connections between male and female, nature and the sensations of the mind.”
Roger Peters has created three carts to accommodate his books, charts and research. Photo / Alyssa Smith
From there, Peters spent five years visiting well-known national scholars, lecturers and philosophers. At the time he was also writing his first set of books, Shakespeare’s Sonnet Philosophy,unpacking how The Bard structured his nature-based philosophy into the sonnets.
“I received a grant from the Taranaki Electricity Trust to get 1000 copies printed. This four-volume set is 1760 pages. The series took me 10 years to complete.”
He set up the Quaternary Institute in 2000 before publishing his first series.
“It’s representative of the fourth level of education, going from primary, secondary, tertiary and then quaternary. The studies I have done and the works I’ve published are above the tertiary level. In tertiary, people are taught to stick to their topic but, for me, I delve deeper and cross-examine.”
Roger Peters' Shakespeare's Sonnet Philosophy series. Photo / Alyssa Smith
His partner Horner runs Quaternary Imprint, the publishing firm attached to the institute. She helped Peters republish his Shakespeare’s Sonnet Philosophy series in 2018-2020.
“I learned how to self-publish using Ingram Content Group in America. It has a lot of benefits, including that it’s available globally.”
Peters then published five more works - Shakespeare and Mature Love (2017), Shakespeare’s Global Philosophy (2017), Shakespeare’s Philosophy Illustrated - Quaternary Teaching Aids(2018), Quaternary Essays(2021) andPlay Commentaries to William Shakespeare’s 1623Folio(2022).
When Peters and Horner aren’t working on research or publishing Peters’ work, they create art. Peters’ work has been exhibited in the Auckland City Art Gallery (1975) and Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery (1994).
Roger Peters has created numerous busts of Shakespeare's head. Pictured is one he made using plaster. Photo / Alyssa Smith
Peters said both he and Horner graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts. While Horner paints, Peters creates sculptures, doll houses and other creations.
“My current project is a dollhouse I designed while in Auckland for art school. I entered it in a Stratford art competition in 1982 and won first prize. However, I was looking at the original dollhouse and thought that I could expand the dollhouse, creating new components of it. I will create 10 similar to give one each to my grandchildren.”
Roger Peters, from rural Taranaki, also enjoys art. Photo / Alyssa Smith
He has also created smaller dollhouses out of aluminium to gift to family members.
“There are 18 to gift to my children, their partners and my seven grandchildren.”
One of his artworks is on permanent display at Stratford’s Prospero Place. The bronze sculpture was gifted to Stratford District Council and placed on a plinth in 1998.
Roger Peters beside the bust he created. Photo / Alyssa Smith
He said having multiple projects on the go is important with regard to keeping a clear mind.
“It helps keep your mind grounded. You could work on one thing and switch to the other and back again.”
When Roger Peters isn't researching Shakespeare, he creates dollhouses. Pictured here is a small-scale of the original he created in Auckland. Photo / Alyssa Smith
He said he planned to shift focus, writing monographs on Duchamp, Mallarme, Wittgenstein and Darwin.
“I’m looking forward to getting those projects under way. I also want to publish a book of Maree’s artworks and then another book of my artworks.”
He said he had a lot to work on.
“Between my research, writing, art and odd jobs around the property, there’s lots to keep me entertained.”
