Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy

Park Honan (Emeritus Professor at the School of English, University of Leeds) presents Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy, an in-depth biography of the famous literary figure. Chapters cover Marlowe's childhood, his street fighting, his alleged atheism, a thorough examination of the circumstances that led to Marlowe's murder, and much more. A handful of black-and-white illustrations intersperse this involved, heavily researched and meticulously presented true-life story. Also highly recommended are Honan's previous biographies, most notably the acclaimed "Shakespeare, A Life".

A book best for people with some prior understanding of Marlowe's works and the era in which he lived. In regard to the spying done, most casual readers will be lost in the confusing cross currents of British politics, heavily influenced by religious factors, of the late 1500s. And the fact is much of Marlowe's life is lost to documented history. In a pleasing style, Professor Park Honan fills the lacunae with his informed guesses and conjectures.

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born in 1564 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare lived until his 52nd year and authored over 30 plays, the acknowledged master of London theatre. But during Mr. Marlowe's lifetime, he was considered the equal of Shakespeare with the production of his plays (four of which are revived to this day, especially "Dr. Faustus"). The equality didn't last long as he was killed in a tavern brawl at the age of 29. Mr. Marlowe was a social and religious rebel. He populated his plays with the outsiders of his day (non-Christians, homosexuals, et al) and created the anti-hero, predating John Milton's Satan in "Paradise Lost" by seven decades. And here is the rub : there is scant documentation of his life, so Mr. Honan is forced to create facts out of his interpretation of Mr. Marlowe's plays and suppositions out of the English culture of that day. There is nothing wrong with this as writers of the Elizabethan period are constantly forced into doing so (see Stephen Greenblatt's "Will in the World"-2004) but the number of "qualifiers" for the speculations on each page is staggering. This leads to superb research on the actual facts known about the Elizabethan era and a lot of guesses about Marlowe's life. All-in-all, "Christopher Marlowe : Poet and Spy" gives the reader the sense of the man, if not definitive knowledge of his days. An accurate but fictional take of the playwright is Lisa Goldstein's fantasy epic, "Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon" (1993) where Mr. Marlowe's spy career is a major plot device.