> England has Shakespeare, Spain has Cervantes, Italy has Dante, and Russia has Pushkin

Author is conveniently avoiding mentioning France, which does not have a major figure weighing on the others that much. Hugo is probably the most homeric of the classic French litterature, but he’s much more recent and nowhere nearly as dominant as Shakespeare in England or Cervantes in Spain (which borders on the ridiculous in both countries imo).

It’s a better situation not to have an Homer but a constellation of good stuff.