Shakespeare's queer children : sexual politics and contemporary culture

"Shakespeare's Queer Children" argues that Shakespeare is not the exclusive possession of any one social group or cultural formation, but has provided an enabling and empowering resource which has allowed "other" radical voices to be heard, often in the face of forces which would consign them to insignificance, marginalization or oppression.The book stages a series of detailed, closely contextualized readings of significant texts and moments in the cultural history of Shakespeare, including the trials of Oscar Wilde, Angela Carter's "Wise Children", the debate over "political correctness" and the literary curriculum, and Derek Jarman's films.

Chedgzoy argues that if Shakespeare is not of an age but for all time, it is surely not because his works transcend or obliterate historical and cultural differences, but because they offer a space where conflicting desires - aesthetic, social and erotic - can be enacted, explored and transformed.