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Park Honan Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy
Oxford University Press 2005 0198186959 / 9780198186953 Hardcover Near fine Near fine Hardcover
New. Near fine in publisher's cloth in like dust jacket. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.When it comes to the accumulation of apocryphal legend, few poets can compete with Christopher Marlowe: Scholars have long ruminated over evidence of his activities as a "spy, unceasing blasphemer, a tough street-fighter and courageous homosexual," not to mention his murder at age 29. In this well-crafted biography, Honan (Shakespeare: A Life) sheds light on the much-speculated (and previously erroneously reported) aspects of Marlowe's life without neglecting its more ordinary features (his stable two-parent upbringing, his diligent scholarship at Cambridge) or destroying the poet's aura of intrigue. Honan engages with the work of prior scholars, but draws his own conclusions, employing Cambridge University records, unpaid bills ("he still seems to have owed for lamb chops and beer"), and "suddenly acquired" documents to freshly reconstruct Marlowe's activities, which included arrests, brawls, imprisonments and his involvement in a counterfeiting operation in the Netherlands. Honan writes that "as a poet, Marlowe had interested himself in clandestine power, tricks, abasement, and immoral force," and by infusing his account with close readings of Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Dr. Faustus and Hero and Leander, Honan explores the fascinating convergence of Marlowe's dual professions. Finally, revisiting the coroner's report and the facts surrounding Marlowe's final hours (he died after being stabbed in the face), Honan handles the poet's murder with the same attention to detail he brings to his life. The care and depth of this biography honor Marlowe's complexities-as Honan writes, "Our lives do not fit into the conventional genres of the stage, as he knew." Copyright ® Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ... *Starred Review* The year ends as it began, with a splendid book about the man who launched the miracle that is Elizabethan-Jacobean drama. In The World of Christopher Marlowe (2005), David Riggs immersed readers in the power struggles of Elizabethan England to convince them that Marlowe's violent death wasn't out of the ordinary and that the religion-tinged political mayhem Marlowe put onstage reflected lived reality. Honan educes more of the person. For instance, whereas Riggs says there are no portraits of Marlowe, Honan allows that at least one portrait, discovered in 1952, just may be authentic. To fully conjure Marlowe's personality, Honan analyzes his great plays--the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great, Doctor Faustus The Jew of Malta, and Edward II--to reveal their heroes' psychological complexities and powerfully suggest that their creator possessed a mind as modernly sympathetic as Shakespeare's. If anything, Marlowe preferred flawed and even villainous protagonists more than Shakespeare did, and he rather encourages seeing their sins and dark deeds as reactions to a cruel and unjust world that ultimately destroys them. Honan's Marlowe, especially read in tandem with Riggs' World, makes the Elizabethan ambience palpable. Ray Olson Copyright ® American Library Association. All rights reserved
Price:
9.25 GBP
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Honan, Park Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy
Oxford University Press, USA 2007 0199232695 / 9780199232697 Paperback Near fine n/a Paperback
New. Near fine in publisher's slightly rubbed decorated wrappers. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.When it comes to the accumulation of apocryphal legend, few poets can compete with Christopher Marlowe: Scholars have long ruminated over evidence of his activities as a "spy, unceasing blasphemer, a tough street-fighter and courageous homosexual," not to mention his murder at age 29. In this well-crafted biography, Honan (Shakespeare: A Life) sheds light on the much-speculated (and previously erroneously reported) aspects of Marlowe's life without neglecting its more ordinary features (his stable two-parent upbringing, his diligent scholarship at Cambridge) or destroying the poet's aura of intrigue. Honan engages with the work of prior scholars, but draws his own conclusions, employing Cambridge University records, unpaid bills ("he still seems to have owed for lamb chops and beer"), and "suddenly acquired" documents to freshly reconstruct Marlowe's activities, which included arrests, brawls, imprisonments and his involvement in a counterfeiting operation in the Netherlands. Honan writes that "as a poet, Marlowe had interested himself in clandestine power, tricks, abasement, and immoral force," and by infusing his account with close readings of Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Dr. Faustus and Hero and Leander, Honan explores the fascinating convergence of Marlowe's dual professions. Finally, revisiting the coroner's report and the facts surrounding Marlowe's final hours (he died after being stabbed in the face), Honan handles the poet's murder with the same attention to detail he brings to his life. The care and depth of this biography honor Marlowe's complexities-as Honan writes, "Our lives do not fit into the conventional genres of the stage, as he knew." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Booklist: *Starred Review* The year ends as it began, with a splendid book about the man who launched the miracle that is Elizabethan-Jacobean drama. In The World of Christopher Marlowe (2005), David Riggs immersed readers in the power struggles of Elizabethan England to convince them that Marlowe's violent death wasn't out of the ordinary and that the religion-tinged political mayhem Marlowe put onstage reflected lived reality. Honan educes more of the person. For instance, whereas Riggs says there are no portraits of Marlowe, Honan allows that at least one portrait, discovered in 1952, just may be authentic. To fully conjure Marlowe's personality, Honan analyzes his great plays--the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great, Doctor Faustus The Jew of Malta, and Edward II--to reveal their heroes' psychological complexities and powerfully suggest that their creator possessed a mind as modernly sympathetic as Shakespeare's. If anything, Marlowe preferred flawed and even villainous protagonists more than Shakespeare did, and he rather encourages seeing their sins and dark deeds as reactions to a cruel and unjust world that ultimately destroys them. Honan's Marlowe, especially read in tandem with Riggs' World, makes the Elizabethan ambience palpable. Ray Olson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Price:
4.11 GBP
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