Shakespeare: circulaciones de una “deidad cultural”

Abstract

The world’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death offers an opportunity to think about the processes of circulation and dissemination of culture. My aim is to explore —giving only some examples, as the phenomenon has been widely studied— how Shakespeare’s name and figure have become a “cultural deity” which has had an undeniable impact on the culture and literature of most countries. I argue that, far from being restricted to merely literary reasons, his influence depends on a number of political, economic and cultural factors that have affected the overall identity of nations.