Rodney Bolt’s delightful life of Marlowe plays out a surprising solution to an enduring literary mystery, bringing the spirit of Shakespeare ...
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Jul 09, 2009
Ben
rated it: 
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 th More...
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 th More...
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Dec 06, 2007
Kay
rated it:
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
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Jul 01, 2008
Ann
rated it: 
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, an More...
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, an More...
Jul 07, 2011
Larry
rated it:
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 st
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Jan 10, 2010
Karl
rated it:
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 dodg
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Apr 02, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
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.
May 30, 2011
David R.
rated it: 
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.
Jul 07, 2009
Jessica
rated it:
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.
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