by KEITH PERRY
An argument has broken out between some of the world’s most distinguished Shakespearean scholars about whether the playwright was gay.
Sir Brian Vickers, a visiting professor at University College London, provoked his fellow academics by raising the question of Shakespeare’s sexuality, claiming that his sonnets gave no clues to his love life.
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The first to reply was Arthur Freeman, a scholar who described himself as a “friendly acquaintance” of Sir Brian before accusing him of introducing “presuppositions that many of us would question, if not reject out of hand”.
“I cannot think of any responsible editor … who would dismiss the premise of homosexual, as well as heterosexual passion pervading [the sonnets],” Mr Freeman wrote.
The Telegraph for more