Shakespeare's Cultural Influence

[CankerBlossom]

We come across references to Shakespeare every day and all over the place, sometimes without even realising it. He is widely regarded by the majority of people as one of the most influential people ever to have lived. On the other hand, some people maintain that his influence has been exaggerated and others claim that he didn't even exist. How would you summarise Shakespeare's cultural influence?

[Ecurb]

Shakespeare never existed. Instead, I discovered how to travel back in time -- into the past. I returned to the 16th and 17th centuries armed with a copy of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare". Then I published the sonnets and produced the plays.

The strange thing is: nobody ever wrote the originals. I brought them with me from the future, and merely copied them down. So Shakespeare never existed, and nobody ever wrote the plays or the sonnets. They simply appeared magically, as if written by God.

[ennison]

Who claims he didn't exist? Shakespeare deniers?

[Ecurb]

My post is based on the plot of a story that I'm never going to write. I think it's an interesting idea and (given time travel) why couldn't it happen? Since I probably won't write the story, I plugged the plot into a post.

Thanks for the "My Struggle"input. I haven't read it yet -- but I own a copy.