Shell Slowly Shed Childhood Stutter

After talking with Babbit Professor of Comparative Literature and Professor of English Marc Shell, it was hard to tell that the author of “Stutter” was himself a stutterer.

While a close observer might notice that he talks slowly, enunciating each syllable clearly, his unhurried pace comes off as distinguished and thoughtful as befits an intellectual. Even when Shell lapses into an occasional stutter, it doesn’t seem out of place.

“Sometimes people mistake my stuttering for the hemming and hawing of English aristocrats when they are trying to appear wise,” Shell says, laughing.

He strikes a “wise” pose, leaning forward over his knee and meditatively stroking his chin.

We are in the sitting room of his house, which has history seeping out of its pores—Mark Twain used to call it home, Shell tells me. Surrounded by antique furniture and walls covered in unique artwork, Shell certainly looks the part of the aristocratic scholar.

But Shell has not always had the mature, composed demeanor that hovers over him today. Although he recovered physically unscarred from a childhood bout of polio, Shell began stuttering around the time of his affliction.

He says that while scientists are not certain what causes stuttering, he is sure that the shock of having polio and the resulting “trauma of being divided body and soul” triggered the genetic impediment, which has affected other members of his family.

“When I had my comprehensive oral exam, it was debatable whether I’d pass because it was oral, and part of it was graded on articulation,” Shell says. But he did pass.

His stuttering slowly began to improve when he was about 17- or 18-years-old, but it was not until his late twenties that Shell really started to speak fluidly. Although he says that a stutterer never really stops being a stutterer, he is now a composed and controlled speaker.

“It’s a marvel to me that I can talk,” Shell says, and he is sincere. “What other people take for granted, I am aware of and grateful for.”

Whether it is because of his awareness and his gratitude or something else, Shell has taken his miracle of language and made the most of it. Shell speaks numerous languages, including English, French, Yiddish, Polish, and even the Native American language Cree.

He has written several books, most of them on money and literature. However, some of them are more biographical, such as a book on polio and his most recent work, “Stutter.”

Without fear, he lectures every week in front of full classes. Impressive for a stutterer. But Shell is modest. He points out other stutterers who have created their own success stories. Henry James. Marilyn Monroe. The guy who plays Darth Vader.

“I’m a lucky and happy guy. When I go to Harvard in the morning, I don’t say, ‘Am I going to stutter [in class]?’” Shell shakes his head and smiles. “I look around and say, ‘Isn’t this great?’”

—Staff writer April B. Wang can be reached at abwang@fas.harvard.edu.