Wd the Willows 'was Kenh Grahame's gay manifto' | Daily Mail Onle

Contents:

• WD THE WILLOWS 'WAS KENH GRAHAME'S GAY MANIFTO'
• SCHOLAR LLS 'THE WD THE WILLOWS' A "GAY MANIFTO"
• THE WD THE WILLOWS 'IS A GAY MANIFTO' ACRDG TO LERARY EXPERT
• WD THE WILLOWS ULD BE 'A GAY MANIFTO'
• SCHOLAR SAYS ‘THE WD THE WILLOWS’ N BE READ AS A ‘GAY MANIFTO’
• WD THE WILLOWS IS ACTUALLY A ‘GAY MANIFTO’, PROFSOR CLAIMS
• LEAVE RATTY AND MOLEY ALONE: CLOSE MALE CHARACTERS DO NOT MAKE THIS CHILDREN'S CLASSIC A VERT GAY MANIFTO
• WD THE WILLOWS ‘IS A GAY MANIFTO’

WD THE WILLOWS 'WAS KENH GRAHAME'S GAY MANIFTO'

Classic children's book The Wd the Willows was thor Kenh Grahame's gay manifto, claims an amic at Cardiff UniversyClassic children's book The Wd the Willows was thor Kenh Grahame's gay manifto, claims an amic at Cardiff bewchg riverbank tal of Ratty, Mole and Toad of Toad Hall is actually, scholar Peter Hunt suggts, a story wh more adult them. The emer profsor English and children's lerature at Cardiff Universy said that there was reason to believe Grahame was gay spe havg a wife and, once he nsired a gay subtext to the all-male tal, was impossible to read the book any other way than 'as a gay manifto.

Grahame reer cid wh a time before the crimalisatn of homosexual acts, wh Hunt suggtg the works were maniftatns of a life he longed for. Robertson, a theatre set signer was a close iend of Osr Wil, the acerbic Irish playwright and important figure the gay muny at that time.

Another nnectn wh the gay muny was wh Constance Smedley, a fay iend who helped get The Wd the Willows published. The emer profsor English and children's lerature at Cardiff Universy said that there was reason to believe Grahame was gay spe havg a wife and child Grahame reer cid wh a time before the crimalisatn of homosexual acts, wh Hunt suggtg the works were maniftatns of a life he longed forA year after publitn she married the artist Maxwell Armfield, who was gay, Profsor Hunt said. 'It jt strik me that if you've got a woman who go to see Kenh Grahame and his wife and Kenh is gay and she marri a gay man, then you n see some empathy gog on.

SCHOLAR LLS 'THE WD THE WILLOWS' A "GAY MANIFTO"

A lerary scholar has rocked the world of children's lerature by suggtg Kenh Grahame's qutsential children's book The Wd the Willows is a "gay manifto" emer profsor English and children's lerature at Cardiff Universy, Peter Hunt, has claimed the stori about Ratty, Toady, Moly, and gff old Mr Badger may have been wrten as a subversive exploratn of Grahame's sexualy. Dpe the origs of the stori beg found tal for a young boy at bedtime, for a group of men "exercisg their power over the lower class, " as well as featurg them like "fear of change" and "fear of women" appears Hunt has dug eper to that readg, tellg, "It is certaly a story of malens and pannship, " and spe Grahame beg married wh a son, Hunt believ he explored his queerns through the anthropomorphic animal to the fact that Grahame died several s before homosexualy was crimalised the UK, Hunt believ the thor was explorg the life he was unable to lead through his wrg. The classic children's story The Wd the Willows n be read as a "gay manifto" that giv an sight to the wrer's latent homosexualy, an amic has claimed.

THE WD THE WILLOWS 'IS A GAY MANIFTO' ACRDG TO LERARY EXPERT

Kenh Grahame's novel, published 1908, tells the story of four anthropomorphised woodland animals msg about boats Edwardian beneath the surface, the tale is a subversive reflectn of Grahame's sexual attractn towards men, acrdg to Peter Hunt, emer profsor English and children's lerature at Cardiff rearchg the thor and his work for his upg book, The Makg of the Wd the Willows, Hunt argued that there was evince to suggt that Grahame was gay, even though he had a wife and child. While his wife and son lived Cookham Dean, Berkshire, Grahame spent most of his time London a hoe which he shared wh a man who was a iend of overtly homosexual wrer Osr Wil.

WD THE WILLOWS ULD BE 'A GAY MANIFTO'

Homosexualy was illegal durg Grahame's lifetime. "You uld read as a gay manifto, " said Hunt, llg a "story of malens and male pannship", The Tim (paywall) reported. In another scene, a "god's ripplg mcl" are wrer is believed to have sudnly left a post at the Bank of England bee, Hunt believed, his bullyg superr - who was the template for the character of Toad - knew he was gay.

ONE of the most famo children's books of all time should actually be read as an exploratn of the thor's homosexualy, an amic has claimed. Oxford thor Kenh Grahame wrote the Wd the Willows as a 'gay manifto', acrdg to Peter Hunt, a profsor at Cardiff Universy. A new book by Prof Hunt lled The Makg of the Wd the Willows claims that the gay subtext is 'hidg pla sight.

SCHOLAR SAYS ‘THE WD THE WILLOWS’ N BE READ AS A ‘GAY MANIFTO’

Certa passag have been intified that ht at homoeroticism cludg a scriptn of Mole and Rat 'tumblg between the sheets great joy and ntentment.

Dpe beg married wh a child, good circumstantial evince shows he was gay, acrdg to Prof Hunt. The thor died 1932, 35 years before homosexual acts were crimalised, and is buried Holywell Cemetery. A scholar has said that popular children’s story ‘The Wd the Willows’ n be read “as a gay manifto”.

WD THE WILLOWS IS ACTUALLY A ‘GAY MANIFTO’, PROFSOR CLAIMS

Peter Hunt, emer profsor English and children’s lerature at Cardiff Universy said the book is actually about Grahame’s homosexualy. He said that there was evince that Grahame was gay spe beg married to a woman and havg a child.

“You uld read as a gay manifto, ” he add. Dpe the profsor’s claims, Grahame was married to a woman and died 1932, over three s before homosexualy was partially crimalised England and Wal. All the lead characters Grahame's classic may be male, but that hardly mak a work of gay lerature.

It had never occurred to me to read The Wd the Willows as a “gay manifto”, but acrdg to one amic, the clu have been hidn the text all along. Peter Hunt, an emer profsor of Cardiff Universy, mak the se for a homoerotic readg of The Wd the Willows a forthg book.

LEAVE RATTY AND MOLEY ALONE: CLOSE MALE CHARACTERS DO NOT MAKE THIS CHILDREN'S CLASSIC A VERT GAY MANIFTO

Kenh Grahame was, acrdg to Profsor Hunt, secretly gay, spe beg married wh a child. What is beg suggted here, that Grahame would foist a gay agenda upon his son? “Same sex” now beg the preferred term to “homosexual”, at least at Cardiff Metropolan Universy, jt down the road om Profsor Hunt’s faculty.

WD THE WILLOWS ‘IS A GAY MANIFTO’

A ‘gay manifto’? Given the novel’s strong homosocial subtext and absence of female characters, the story is often read as an pist fantasy om Grahame’s unhappy marriage to Elspeth Thomson.

Ined, Hunt ventur to ll the book “a gay manifto”, readg as a gay allegory heavy wh supprsed sire and latent homoeroticism. It is believed that Cunliffe knew that Kenh Graham was gay, and bullied him bee of his sexualy. In 1899, at the age of 40, the 'gay' Kenh Grahame married Elspeth Thomson.

Peter Hunt of Cardiff Universy says that Wd the Willows is Grahame's 'gay manifto'. The profsor says that there is reason to believe Grahame was gay.