A few links for those who are interested in Christopher Marlowe, but don't know where else on the internet to start looking.

MARLOWE ON THE INTERNET by Peter Farey


 
Typing "Christopher Marlowe" into any search engine will of course produce a mass of information about him - well over 30,000 hits on Google in fact. Whether this may also be accurately called a 'wealth' of information, however, is perhaps rather more debatable, as so much of what has been posted about him (and uncritically copied by others) is wrong. I have therefore picked out just a few sites which might be of a little more interest, and have added some of my own comments below. At the moment (although I would be very happy to discuss any claim that I am wrong) I believe that my own biography of Marlowe is probably the only one currently available on-line without at least one or two fairly serious errors.


http://www.marlowe-society.org/

The website of the U.K. Marlowe Society. This site seemed formerly to be mainly a vehicle for the promotion of the somewhat unorthodox ideas of the late A. D. ('Dolly') Wraight and of her books. Efforts have been made recently to return to reflecting the Society's true objects, however, and away from appearing to be a "Marlowe-was-Shakespeare" group. This is a great improvement, and for anyone with an interest in Marlowe, it is well worth following up. Unfortunately, the equivalent society in the States, The Marlowe Society of America has a site which is really far too out of date to be recommended. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/Marlowe.html If you are interested in seeing the works in their original spelling, the Tufts University site is the best source. They can be downloaded only one scene at a time, however, and the site is usually off-line between 10 and 12 am (GMT). http://www.selfknowledge.com//283au.htm Texts of the plays (other than Edward II and Dido Queen of Carthage) are available at Zimmermann's Encyclopædia of Self site. These are also accompanied by a glossary and notes, but the glossary - although hyperlinked - is not related to the context, and the notes, most irritatingly, are not hyperlinked to the text. http://www.luminarium.com/renlit/marlowebook.htm A fairly reasonable list of Marlowe-related books is available at the Luminarium Book Store's site. Not as up to date as it should be (nothing later than 1999), so for anything more recent, perhaps it's best to go to somewhere like http://www.bookfinder.com/ and search for books with "Marlowe" in the title (or "Christopher Marlowe" if you want to avoid all the Raymond Chandler ones!) http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/MarloweBks.htm A fairly comprehensive list of fictional books about Marlowe has been assembled by an amateur enthusiast, Elisabeth Riba, and has quite a lot of useful comments. http://www.marlovian.com This is the website of David More's Marlowe Lives! Association and is strictly for those who are interested in the 'Shakespeare authorship' question, and Marlowe's possible role in it. Dave himself is light-hearted and readable, although the contributions to his Marlovian newsletter are of variable quality. http://www2.localaccess.com/marlowe Another site devoted mainly to the authorship question. John Baker has many unorthodox ideas (and not many with which I agree!) but is quite fun to read. In my view, he can be too free with his interpretation of the 'facts' to be treated as a source of reliable historical information, but some of the ideas he presents may be well worth following up with more detailed and accurate research. http://www.muchadoaboutsomething.com/ This is the site associated with Mike Rubbo's filmed documentary putting the case for Marlowe's survival and subsequent authorship of Shakespeare's works. Numerous interviews with people on either side of the debate. http://shakespeareauthorship.com
Dave Kathman and Terry Ross's site "dedicated to the proposition that Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare". It mainly opposes the theory that the Earl of Oxford wrote the works, but provides a good antidote for anyone harbouring doubts in this area. An essay, How We Know That Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare is particularly helpful, there are many links for anyone interested in the authorship question, and also a very useful Biographical Dictionary compiled by Dave Kathman. It is also possible to discuss Christopher Marlowe on the internet, of course, whether from a 'Shakespeare authorship' point of view or not. I have myself been contributing to the newsgroup humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare (HLAS) for several years. Unfortunately, the group may be coming to the end of its useful life, as the current contributors are no longer anywhere near as good as the earlier ones at providing interesting information, stimulating debate, and simple amusement. If you want to look at past discussions, however, on any part of the subject that interests you, simply go to http://google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en, type 'humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare' in the 'newsgroup' box, appropriate words in the 'find messages' area, and (if you're particularly interested in what I had to say on the subject) 'Peter Farey' in the 'author' box. But be warned - there are nearly two thousand of mine to choose from, and I'm not even in the top twenty!
 
Peter Farey, 2004

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