what if

The most influential man in history
What if Shakespeare had never lived? What if he, like so many children of the 16th century, had died in childhood, just another lost infant son of an unknown Stratford glove-maker? Instead of the bland monument with its threatening inscription -"cursed be he who moves my bones"-imagine a nameless grave, a corpse knocked about and forgotten long ago in the Warwickshire muck. How would the world be different without him?

Most writers spend their lives avoiding the question of what writing amounts to. It’s an annoying question, and tends to be asked by annoying people, like your parents and their friends and the businessmen at gala fundraisers. I’ve never yet heard a satisfying answer, because no matter what anyone says there’s almost always a better way to achieve the intended goal than by writing. If you want to improve the world, go plant a tree in the desert or chain yourself to a whaling vessel or sign up to teach underprivileged kids in an at-risk neighbourhood. Samuel Johnson, the 18th-century critic and wit, famously said that anyone who doesn’t write for money is a blockhead, but sadly the opposite is true. If you want money, may I suggest corporate law? Or at least aluminum siding.