Apology

I would appreciate your publishing an apology and correction regarding your reference to my book Filthy Shakespeare [in “The real William Shakespeare,” an interview with Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells that appeared in the Op-Ed page on September 14] in which you imply that it suggested Shakespeare was homosexual.

If you had actually read the passages of the Sonnets quoted in my book you will have found that it is careful to describe the Speaker of the Sonnets as a poetic persona. I used the terms ‘Speaker,' ‘the Poet' and so on — which are accepted terms literary criticism employs to differentiate the voice of the speaker of the words within the poem from the author of the poem.

Dr. Pauline Kiernan

We regret the incorrect reference by the interviewer and apologise to Dr. Kiernan for it. — Editor-in-Chief