The World of Christopher Marlowe

This is the definitive book about the man who revolutionised English drama and English poetry - and was murdered in his prime. David Riggs evokes the atmosphere and texture of Marlowe's life, from the stench and poverty of a childhood spent near Canterbury's abattoirs to the fanatical pursuit of classical learning at school. Marlowe won a place at Cambridge University, where he entered its world of eighteen-hour working days, religious intrigue and twilight homosexuality. The gifted student was not immune to the passions and fears of the wider society, and Riggs describes the mood of England in those years when Elizabeth's crown was anything but secure, and Spain and the Papacy were determined to overthrow her regime. Looming above everything is the Elizabethan state and its spy rings, with which Marlowe was already involved by the time he left Cambridge. His undercover missions brought him into contact with Catholic conspirators who were plotting to kill the Queen; yet as a playwright and thinker he was attracted to the most unorthodox and threatening idea of all - atheism. Marlowe brought a wonderful new lightness and musicality to English verse, but was held in little esteem during his lifetime and his works were scrutinised for heresy. As a writer of plays, he was literally on the margins of London life, working on the edge of the city where prostitutes and thieves scratched a living. Eventually, the combination of espionage, dangerous knowledge, homosexuality and suspected treason proved deadly to him. Marlowe's brief life was enigmatic, contradictory and glorious - and this magisterial work of reconstruction and scholarship illuminates it with immense richness.

David Riggs is Mark Pigott OBE, Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. His previous books include Ben Jonson: A Life. He lives in California with his wife, a native of Sussex.