William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) needs no introduction, but his place among the fantastic is real: The Tempest, with its enchanted island, its magus Prospero and the ‘monster’ Caliban, has been read as an ancestor of both fantasy and science fiction (it lends Forbidden Planet its whole structure), while A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the ghosts and witches of the tragedies run through the imaginative tradition. His invention and language sit beneath all English-language storytelling.