# The Shakespeare of "\_\_\_\_\_\_\_"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-of-_______/732140>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 21, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-of-_______/732140 "2015-09-21T19:03:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-of-_______/732140/1 "2015-09-21T19:03:29Z")

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I’ve heard Cervantes called the Spanish Shakespeare, and Pushkin called Russia’s Shakespeare, and that made me wonder who the equivalent would be in other places. Is there someone called the Shakespeare of Italy or Chile or wherever else? I tried googling but I just found stuff about Shakespeare in other languages, not the Shakespeare of other languages.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-of-_______/732140/2 "2015-09-21T19:59:22Z")

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I’ve seen Homer called the Classical world’s equivalent of “Shakespeare and the Bible,” every educated person reading and quoting him for both literary and religious purposes.

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-of-_______/732140/3 "2015-09-22T11:42:37Z")

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I think Dante is considered the Shakespeare of Italy.

Perhaps Goethe is viewed as the Shakespeare of Germany?

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**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shakespeare-of-_______/732140/4 "2015-09-22T14:53:56Z")

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Tennessee Williams the American Shakespeare?