An American academic has claimed William Shakespeare may have been a woman as a bizarre row erupts over the Elizabethan writer’s identity.
The English playwright supposedly wrote all 38 plays but there have been doubts about whether he really penned the scripts.
However, Shakespeare’s identity has returned to the headlines yet again after Elizabeth Winkler appeared to claim he was a woman.
Winkler, who is a graduate from both Princeton and Stanford, will appear at the London Library in June to hold forth on her pet subject: “Was Shakespeare a woman?”
London Library will hold an event in June to discuss the English playwrite's sexual orientation
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She also penned the controversial book “Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies”, which explores “who the Bard might really be”.
The book considers “how the forces of nationalism and empire, religion and mythmaking, gender and class have shaped our admiration of Shakespeare across the centuries”.
However, the London Library's discussion will also involve Sir Derek Jacobi, one of the great Shakesperean actors, and author and critic Stephanie Merritt.
Journalist Oliver Kamm subsequently wrote to the Chairman of the London Library to complain about the “wildly inappropriate” event and its “promotion of a baseless and anti-intellectual conspiracy theory”.
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He wrote: “There is a cost to indulging conspiracy theories, evident in the coarsening of public discourse and the spread of irrationalism.”
Kamm added: “To host a 'conversation' with Shakespeare denialists is a betrayal of the values of literary scholarship and critical inquiry that we hold to.”
He later argued: “Literary scholars dismiss these fantasies because there is zero evidence to support the notion of concealed authorship.”
Jonathan Beckman, editor of The Economist's 1843 magazine, also criticsed the event and wrote to the library.
Elizabeth Winkler
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Winkler responded to her critics by claiming her book “is about the theories that have been put forward over the centuries”, adding: “It does not argue for any one of them in particular.”
She also said: “I'm not sure why these people feel so threatened by a simple library discussion.
“Arguments about the past are a fundamental feature of academic freedom and democratic debate.
“There is nothing dangerous or 'immoral' in exploring this subject. Shutting down discussion is obviously anti-intellectual.”