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History Play: The Lives and After-life of Christopher Marlowe
What if Christopher Marlowe staged his own death, fled to the Continent and went on to write the works we now attribute to Shakespeare? 'About anyone so great as Shakespeare, it is probable that we can never be right; and if we can never be right, it is better that we should from time to time change our way of being wrong.' T. S. Eliot Mark Twain likened writing the biography of Shakespeare to reconstructing the skeleton of a brontosaurus – using 'nine bones and six hundred barrels of plaster of Paris'. We work with a handful of facts and a pile of conjecture. All biographies of Shakespeare, from the wayward to the academic, use the same few-score hard facts kneaded together with legend, then leavened by a dash of zeitgeist and a large dollop of author's imagination. Poems and plays are plundered for booty, even by those who profess scepticism as to the inferences that can be drawn about the life from the work. Like statistics, quotations can be turned to very different facts. This book is not, of course, an attempt to prove that Christopher Marlowe staged his own death, fled to the continent, and went on to write the work attributed to Shakespeare. It, however, playfully assumes that as its starting point, and swings the old bones around, viewing them from a different angle to build a different brontosaurus. It does so in a spirit of fun, and with the intention of a little saucy iconoclasm. Shakespeare's works are unassailable, and will survive any amount of subversion, but by playing with our commonplace history, Rodney Bolt argues that the quasi-religious idol the man has become is perhaps in need of the efforts of a wicked woodworm. Where other writers have looked at the evidence and deduced a story, Bolt has imagined a story, then supported it with the same sparse evidence. At this distance, the difference between deduction and speculation is paper thin. The point of the take is not only to question our view of history and the validity of biography, but to show how people travelled, how cultures crossed, and how art gets made.
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First published January 1, 2004
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About the author
Rodney Bolt
36 books3 followersRodney Bolt was born in South Africa. He studied at Rhodes University and wrote the play Gandhi: Act Too, which won the 1980 Durban Critic's Circle Play of the Year award. That same year he won a scholarship to Cambridge and read English at Corpus Christi. He has twice won Travel Writer of the Year awards in Germany and is the author of History Play, an invented biography of Christopher Marlowe (HarperCollins, 2004) and The Librettist of Venice, a biography of Lorenzo Da Ponte (Bloomsbury, 2006), which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He lives in Amsterdam.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 29, 2021
I’ve been duped! This was billed as historical fiction (my favorite genre), about the enduring literary mystery involving William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe (c’mon, I taught English Lit for 25 years!). While technically it does meet the definition because it “plays” with historical facts (hence that tricky title), it disappoints in its narrative execution.
Where’s the dialogue? Where’s the plot? This reads much more like an academic thesis than fiction, with plenty of citations and pages of footnotes for authentication. Yep. Boooorrrrinnnng. If it had been described as a fictional biography of mostly Christopher Marlowe with a side of Shakespeare, that would have been more accurate. But I’d have never picked it up.
My favorite parts of the “novel” were the Forward and the Author’s Note at the end. The Forward is by Samuel Clemens, yes, THAT Samuel Clemens. Taken from an essay or a lecture, he lays out all the facts we actually know about William Shakespeare. Then in his notes at the end, Rodney Bolt explains how his work is meant to be a different “interpretation” of those facts. I get that. That’s the basis of all historical fiction. But what comes between those two parts of the book is just - ugh.
Where’s the dialogue? Where’s the plot? This reads much more like an academic thesis than fiction, with plenty of citations and pages of footnotes for authentication. Yep. Boooorrrrinnnng. If it had been described as a fictional biography of mostly Christopher Marlowe with a side of Shakespeare, that would have been more accurate. But I’d have never picked it up.
My favorite parts of the “novel” were the Forward and the Author’s Note at the end. The Forward is by Samuel Clemens, yes, THAT Samuel Clemens. Taken from an essay or a lecture, he lays out all the facts we actually know about William Shakespeare. Then in his notes at the end, Rodney Bolt explains how his work is meant to be a different “interpretation” of those facts. I get that. That’s the basis of all historical fiction. But what comes between those two parts of the book is just - ugh.
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June 20, 2023DNF. I found the writing style of this book to be a lot more accessible and enjoyable than the other Shakespeare-related biography I picked up for book group and I thought the concept behind it was very interesting. I was aware of the premise from the beginning. Unfortunately I didn't feel like I had enough background knowledge on Shakespeare and Marlowe to really appreciate what the author was trying to do so I jumped around, read the ending, and then set it aside.
The list at the beginning of what is actually known about Shakespeare was very intriguing. Having done some genealogy I appreciate that even some of these "facts" could be red herrings, and it made me appreciate so much more just how long these plays have been appreciated. Amazing.
Book group topic - biography of an historic figure.
The list at the beginning of what is actually known about Shakespeare was very intriguing. Having done some genealogy I appreciate that even some of these "facts" could be red herrings, and it made me appreciate so much more just how long these plays have been appreciated. Amazing.
Book group topic - biography of an historic figure.
July 9, 2009
Few books have managed to disappoint me as much as this one has. The captivating premise of History Play--that Marlowe faked his death and wrote all the plays attributed to Shakespeare--belies its overly-pedantic treatment of Marlovian theory (an actual literary theory supported by several leading Elizabethan scholars).
The most interesting part of the book is its foreword, which wasn't even written by Bolt, but instead by Mark Twain! It lists the facts we know definitively about the life of William Shakespeare, emphasizing how little we actually know about one considered the greatest playwright of English literature. Academics who favour the mainstream view say this is to be expected; Shakespeare was a commoner, after all, so his life isn't documented as well as the nobility of Elizabethan England. Others take this as a sign that the William Shakespeare of Stratford couldn't have written all those plays we know as his--and that's where Bolt takes up the narrative and presents a fictitious biography of Christopher Marlowe.
I have to admit I was skimming by the time I reached the halfway point of History Play. Its stultifying writing made me want to put it down, but the rational part of me wanted to see how it ended. It probably wasn't worth it, in retrospect. Bolt spends too much time mentioning how he acquired this information ("this was in a letter...") and uses far too many quotations from Marlowe's plays (both those indisputably attributed to him and those we attribute to Shakespeare). His tone is dry, academic, and bored.
If this were a paper in a scholarly journal, I can see how that might work. However, biographies need to be somewhat exciting. I'm not asking Bolt to fictionalize his scenes (any more than they already are...), but as it is History Play is lifeless, limp prose. I was hoping to recommend this book to a couple of other people I know who would enjoy seeing this premise explored, but now I shall forbear--I don't want to inflict this on them!
It's my own fault for having such high hopes, of course, so I won't blame History Play for disappointing me. Unfortunately, I cannot really give it praise.
The most interesting part of the book is its foreword, which wasn't even written by Bolt, but instead by Mark Twain! It lists the facts we know definitively about the life of William Shakespeare, emphasizing how little we actually know about one considered the greatest playwright of English literature. Academics who favour the mainstream view say this is to be expected; Shakespeare was a commoner, after all, so his life isn't documented as well as the nobility of Elizabethan England. Others take this as a sign that the William Shakespeare of Stratford couldn't have written all those plays we know as his--and that's where Bolt takes up the narrative and presents a fictitious biography of Christopher Marlowe.
I have to admit I was skimming by the time I reached the halfway point of History Play. Its stultifying writing made me want to put it down, but the rational part of me wanted to see how it ended. It probably wasn't worth it, in retrospect. Bolt spends too much time mentioning how he acquired this information ("this was in a letter...") and uses far too many quotations from Marlowe's plays (both those indisputably attributed to him and those we attribute to Shakespeare). His tone is dry, academic, and bored.
If this were a paper in a scholarly journal, I can see how that might work. However, biographies need to be somewhat exciting. I'm not asking Bolt to fictionalize his scenes (any more than they already are...), but as it is History Play is lifeless, limp prose. I was hoping to recommend this book to a couple of other people I know who would enjoy seeing this premise explored, but now I shall forbear--I don't want to inflict this on them!
It's my own fault for having such high hopes, of course, so I won't blame History Play for disappointing me. Unfortunately, I cannot really give it praise.
December 6, 2007
I'm still struggling to understand the premise behind this book, and I can only conclude that Rodney Bolt, an accomplished historian, is a fiction writer manque. The story is wonderful, really compelling, lovely, and if - like me - the topless towers of Ilium have haunted you since you read your first Marlowe, one you want desperately to believe in. It's a copiously footnoted account of how the wonderful, raffish Kit Marlowe 'wrote' all Shakespeare's plays, wasn't stabbed in a tavern duel, and lived out his life in hiding, in Europe.
And then ... you read the footnotes and realise the the main source for all this wonderful historical research is a fake. He's a character made up by Bolt to carry the veracity of this story and frankly, the whole conceit of the book hinges on this stinking fish of a false historical personage and as a result, the boook stinks too.
Why would anybody want to read a book that isn't historical fact, nor honest fiction, but a self-serving melange of the two? I did read it, right to the end, but I think I wasted my time: I couldn't trust a single word in it to be factual and yet I never felt that it worked as an imaginery narrative.
Don't bother reading it if veracity matters to you, and if you read it for entertainment I guarantee you'll put it down after a couple of chapters, because the style is textbook dull.
And then ... you read the footnotes and realise the the main source for all this wonderful historical research is a fake. He's a character made up by Bolt to carry the veracity of this story and frankly, the whole conceit of the book hinges on this stinking fish of a false historical personage and as a result, the boook stinks too.
Why would anybody want to read a book that isn't historical fact, nor honest fiction, but a self-serving melange of the two? I did read it, right to the end, but I think I wasted my time: I couldn't trust a single word in it to be factual and yet I never felt that it worked as an imaginery narrative.
Don't bother reading it if veracity matters to you, and if you read it for entertainment I guarantee you'll put it down after a couple of chapters, because the style is textbook dull.
July 7, 2009
After the most amazing foreword I've ever read (check the book out for the foreword alone. I'm totally serious), I was really let down by the rest of the book. It just got so bogged down in the details that I couldn't even get to the meat of the author's argument (that Shakespeare is really Marlowe, his death faked due to royal espionage) before I gave up on the book. Really dissappointing.
July 22, 2021
Biography? Novel? Literary Criticism? What genre is this book? Once a person realizes it is a fictionalized, biographical criticism of a literary great, it is a fun read because as an history there were way too many assumptions for one to hope it was a true biography and as a novel this was way too 'heavy' of a read.
Bolt does an excellent job creating the era of the time span of Kit Marlowe and William Shakespeare and researched his topic[s] well. This reviewer read the work on a Kindle and would have enjoyed it more and appreciated its role if access to the endnotes could have been easier to know what was fiction and what was factual. An impressive Bibliography and Index accompanies the text.
Bolt does an excellent job creating the era of the time span of Kit Marlowe and William Shakespeare and researched his topic[s] well. This reviewer read the work on a Kindle and would have enjoyed it more and appreciated its role if access to the endnotes could have been easier to know what was fiction and what was factual. An impressive Bibliography and Index accompanies the text.
May 16, 2021
A fun romp through the origins of Elizabethan England’s greatest plays and quite a bit of the history of those times.
But perhaps even more intriguing is the books overall premise. The conclusion you begin with influences how you see the facts. If you assume Christopher Marlowe escaped to the Continent and used Shakespeare as a conduit to publish and perform his plays, then it’s easy to find evididence to support that conclusion. And it’s easy to spin a talk that is convincing.
So, read on...and think about the truths you hold...
But perhaps even more intriguing is the books overall premise. The conclusion you begin with influences how you see the facts. If you assume Christopher Marlowe escaped to the Continent and used Shakespeare as a conduit to publish and perform his plays, then it’s easy to find evididence to support that conclusion. And it’s easy to spin a talk that is convincing.
So, read on...and think about the truths you hold...
January 1, 2021
Intriguing research into records and gossip from mid sixteenth century. It's amazing it still exists and curious how adeptly Bolt matches these facts to excerpts from Shakespeare's plays. At the least it's a great peek into everyday life in the Tudor era OR could it be proving a theory that William Shakespeare was a cover story for the true author? Hmmm...
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February 9, 2021A biography of Christopher Marlowe. Bolt believes Marlowe was a spy who faked his death and went to Europe. He believes he wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare and presents scenarios that are used as foundations for many of the plays.
December 26, 2020
uggg. simply uggg. weighty details loosely organized in a linear time sequence where the mundane overshadows any sense of story or purpose.
March 1, 2017
‘The question confronting a young man in [Elizabethan times] was not, am I heterosexual or am I homosexual, but where do my greater loyalties lie, with other men or with women.’ The answer for Kit was ‘with both’.
Reread, for a paper on Christopher Marlowe in Historical Fiction that I was unable to give (due to ill health) at the Historical Fiction Research Network conference. My earlier review is here.
I still think it's a delightful bit of historical play: I suspect I caught some more in-jokes this time around: and I found myself more intrigued than before by the ways in which 'Shakespeare's' sonnets, read in particular sequence, can be made to tell a story. (It's like tarot cards: put 'em down in any order and construct your narrative.)
Reading on Kindle made it easier to search and match up different threads, characters, themes: however, it also made the footnotes harder to follow (impossible, in fact, on my old Kindle 3, as the footnote refs didn't seem to work as links: I ended up having footnotes open on my phone's Kindle app, and reading the main narrative on the Kindle itself.)
Plenty of sound scholarship on the known events of Marlowe's life, and the lives of those associated with him: plenty of playful invention regarding a life in exile. Still highly recommended.
July 2, 2008
My local library shelves this book in the nonfiction section, perhaps because of its biographical nature. But do not be confused. This book is fiction, an alternative history that exposes readers to a good deal of factual Elizabethan history along the way.
The aptly titled History Play refers to Shakespeare's historical dramas. Of course, the title also winks at what's going on in this narrative, which assumes that playwright Christopher Marlowe did not actually die in a bar room brawl, and was responsible for the plays attributed to Shakespeare.
Fully disclosing his invented sources in the extensive footnotes, the author charges forth with this 'biography' in lively prose. The result is compelling, convincing, and worthy of some lost hours on the living room couch with an 'uuuge mug o' ale (ale or Good Earth Tea).
The aptly titled History Play refers to Shakespeare's historical dramas. Of course, the title also winks at what's going on in this narrative, which assumes that playwright Christopher Marlowe did not actually die in a bar room brawl, and was responsible for the plays attributed to Shakespeare.
Fully disclosing his invented sources in the extensive footnotes, the author charges forth with this 'biography' in lively prose. The result is compelling, convincing, and worthy of some lost hours on the living room couch with an 'uuuge mug o' ale (ale or Good Earth Tea).
July 7, 2011
Being interested in Elizabethan playwrights and especially the controversy concerning Kit Marlowe and Shakespeare I was most disappointed by this book. Having read most if not all of the dissertations on the theory that Marlowe wrote a good % of Shakespeare's plays this is a work of pure 99% supposition and fiction that should come with that clear warning. Its well put together IF the aforementioned disclaimer is made clear but it is not and accordingly when you start shaking your head at the stretches made to connote a connection between the two authors and their works you suddenly realize its not what you think. There are so many great works out there that try in a scholarly to make a case but this does the entire study of the controversy of authorship a large disservice.
January 10, 2010
A fun idea, and the book is largely redeemed by the author's self-directed humor — putting him in an entirely different, and a finer, class than the warped souls who firmly believe (for instance) that Mozart didn't really write his own music, and who freely invent and rewrite history to suit their front-loaded eccentricity. The grand finale, a sort of Marlowe-Cervantes-Monteverdi triangle, is a little labored, but in principle, a worthy and playful invention. Bolt's musicology is a little dodgy, but again, it's good fun, and it would be a bit precious to expect him to be a musical expert for such a lark.
May 30, 2011
A delightfully clever retelling of the Shakespeare-wasn't-the-playwright story. Many have suggested that the worldly Christopher Marlowe was the real Bard, but Bolt goes the extra distance to both explain how Marlowe did it but also to advance a hypothesis that Marlowe survived his 1593 murder and continued to write plays at least to 1613. Shakespeare himself takes a real beating in this one, repainted as a mediocre playwright and grasping poseur. This one's enticing and a real treat.
April 2, 2011
Did Will Shakespeare really write the plays he's known for, or was he just in the right place at the right time? A well-written book, engaging and wonderful. I'm not ready to accept Bolt's theory, but it is worth spending some time on.
December 4, 2012
OKAY SO THIS ISN'T REALLY NON-FICTION BUT this has been bugging me for the past 6 months and I am marking it non-fiction for, y'know, the first half of the book. Making a "speculative biography" tag just seems.......a little too much.
June 19, 2012
I am now convinced Shakespeare was a laying common-kissing flap-dragon.
A rollicking, slightly wacky, confidently ridiculous ride of a conspiracy theory. With copious footnotes.
Love.
A rollicking, slightly wacky, confidently ridiculous ride of a conspiracy theory. With copious footnotes.
Love.
August 3, 2012
I loved this. The premise was tantalising and the execution was intricate and entertaining. This book will make you think differently about every other historical biography you read.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews