Writer Is Under Fire for Teaching Books by ‘Serious Heterosexual Guys'—Mostly

A writer on the faculty of the University of Toronto is under fire after telling an online magazine that he teaches books by “serious heterosexual guys” only, The Toronto Star reports.

“When I was given this job I said I would only teach the people that I truly, truly love. Unfortunately, none of those happen to be Chinese, or women,” the professor, David Gilmour, said in an interview with a columnist for Hazlitt, a publication of Random House of Canada.

The comments were quickly picked up by other publications and drew a storm of responses on Twitter and other social media. The university has distanced itself from the controversy. Mr. Gilmour, an award-winning novelist and film critic, says it’s all one big misunderstanding. “I don’t have a sexist or racist bone in my body,” he told the Star.

The reading list for his class, “Love, Sex, and Death in Modern Short Fiction,” is indeed mostly made up of literary works by middle-aged men. But somehow Virginia Woolf made the cut. So did two stories by Truman Capote. “So obviously I don’t have an anti-gay position,” Mr. Gilmour said. “No one teaches Truman Capote except David Gilmour. I force Truman Capote down their throats whether they like it or not.”