>
> if it turns out that he was gay, or jewish, or that his
> real name was homer simpson, would it mean that hamlet,
> and romeo and juliet, really suck?
Not to me, since all I do is read this play or that on my day off work and grin. But to a psychologist trying to comprehend the growth of "Shakespeare's" genius, or to a literary scholar, studying how such-and-such a particular metaphor or fancy was foreshadowed in "Comedy of Errors," realised in "Midsummer's Night Dream," and perfected in "Tempest" it would, particularly if Bacon wrote "Dream" while Marlowe wrote "Tempest."
You could argue that that hypothetical literary scholar is merely suckin' wind, but if you do Carrol's gonna look you up and kick your butt.
Yours WDK - WKiernan at ij.net