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List Price: $29.95Amazon.com's Price: $18.68 You Save: $11.27 (38%)as of 11/21/2009 12:25 EST
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 822.3
EAN: 9780199232697
ISBN: 0199232695
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: September 17, 2007
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
One of the great playwrights of his age, second only to Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe was also a secret agent as well as the central figure in a murder mystery. Now, Park Honan offers the most thoroughly researched and detailed biography of Marlowe to appear in over fifty years.
Honan, the acclaimed biographer of Shakespeare, takes us from Marlowe's childhood in Canterbury to his mysterious death in Deptford, shedding much light on this shadowy individual. The book features new information on Marlowe's six-and-a-half years at Cambridge, his shocking blasphemy and his street fights, his methods of preparing himself for writing, and his alleged atheism. The book includes new facts about Marlowe's adventures on the continent, where he was caught with a counterfeit coin, a hanging offense, but talked his way out of the noose and was returned to England in irons. In addition, there is a more exact account of the circumstances that led to his murder, and a fresh description of his evolving relationship with Shakespeare.
Researched in archives in England, Europe, and the United States, this superb biography paints an unforgettable portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in English literature.
"No stone is left unturned.... Mr. Honan offers an almost hour-by-hour account of Marlowe's final day, an intriguing theory about the killer's motives and an inquiry into the fatal wound worthy of 'CSI.'"
--William Grimes, New York Times
"A sumptuously detailed picture of Marlowe's world.... The rich, complex vision of Elizabethan life that 'Christopher Marlowe' supplies can make his poetic gift for cutting to the passionate core of that life seem even more astonishing."
--Michael Feingold, The New York Times Book Review
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I give the book high marks for the research that apparently went into the book. There were a number of references cited in the book that were new to me. Maybe that was enough to earn it 4 stars, but like another reviewer I found the presentation to be a bit disjointed and uneven.
Mr. Honan previously wrote a biography on Shakespeare, so it appears he was careful to avoid discrediting Stratfordian doctrine, or contradicitng what was prevously written, which may account for some of the ... Read More
Rating:  -
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 ... Read More
Rating: -
'The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus' was perhaps Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece. The hero endeavors to save his soul and trick the devil; his devil, Methostophilis, was no match for Faust who had been tormented with 10,000 hells -- after he had seen "the face of God and tasted the eternal joys of heaven." If we find succor in hate, "neglect reconciliation," 'we shall always carry hell about with us.' Faust had boasted that "a sound magician is a mighty god."
Marlowe ... Read More
Rating: -
This book seems to have been written mainly for an audience of professional Marlowe scholars. General readers will find it frustrating and confusing. His writing often wanders all over the place. For example, in reference to Marlowe's activities as spy, Honan writes, "He involved himself in some duplicity, if not in faithlessness and treachery, with regard to fellow scholars at Cambridge" (109), suggesting that Marlowe may have betrayed some of his fellow students with Catholic sympathies. But the point is ... Read More
Rating: -
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.
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Dewey Decimal Number: 822.3
EAN: 9780199232697
ISBN: 0199232695
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: September 17, 2007
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA