We know them better than we know our friends: brilliant Sherlock Holmes; stingy Ebenezer Scrooge; the idealistic Don Quixote; the obsessed Captain Ahab. Hamlet is indecisive and world-weary; Romeo and Juliet are young, lusty and impulsive; Indiana Jones is dashing, learned and courageous.

We speak of men with Oedipus Complexes or Peter Pan Syndromes. We know women who dream of being Cinderella-or Madame Bovary. We fear Orwell"s Big Brother, Bram Stoker"s Count Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein"s Creature. And we marvel at odd couples: Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. D"Arcy; Huckleberry Finn and Jim; Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock; Humbert Humbert and Lolita.

Yet all of these unforgettable icons-who have shaped civilization and embodied our deepest archetypes-are not human: they are fictional constructs, some created by great authors, others by long processes of folklore and myth. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге TIME: The 100 Most Influential People Who Never Lived (Kelly Knauer)