The Marlowe Papers: A Novel
Page 35
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not exist were it not for Mike Rubbo, Jonathan Bate, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Mike Rubbo’s documentary Much Ado About Something exposed me to the Marlowe theory of Shakespeare authorship for the first time and included interviews with Jonathan Bate, who provided me with my lightbulb moment when he said, of the ‘crazy’ idea that Marlowe faked his death and escaped into exile, ‘I do think there is a really good novel in here’. Without the generous funding of the AHRC, I could not have taken four years out of my life to research and write this book, and I wish to express my sincere thanks to those who selected this project for funding, and the British taxpayers who continue to fund research in the arts and humanities. It is the mark of a civilised country.
The Marlowe Papers was built on a sturdy skeleton of research that was largely the work of others. Numerous contributors to the Marlowe Society Newsletter, the Marlowe Society Research Journal, and Carlo DiNota’s blog The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection will recognise aspects of their work in mine. My deepest gratitude goes to Peter Farey, author of the Marlovian website to which I most often returned, for arguing with integrity and logic, correcting my misapprehensions, and sharing with me his data, research, microfilms, and theories. My chief (if virtual) company during this adventure has been the founder members of the International Marlowe Shakespeare Society: not only Peter, but Mike Rubbo, Daryl Pinksen, Isabel Gortazar and Carlo DiNota; all have, through discussion, helped me shape my ideas. Alongside Peter Farey, the late Dolly Wraight provided a significant proportion of the foundations on which this narrative is woven; David More furnished it with John Penry, and Tom Chivers (who would probably wish me to point out he is not a Marlovian) must be credited with The Flanders Mare. Anthony Kellett proved excellent at sourcing particular research materials, as did a man at the Open University whom I cannot name.
Thanks must go to Blake Morrison for his support from beginning to end, and for fathering a small family of postgraduate writers at Goldsmiths with whom I could share progress and the occasional free glass of wine (writers’ oxygen). Lavinia Greenlaw’s early criticism, though hard to swallow, prevented me from travelling any further down a narrative dead-end. Andrew Hadfield gave me an excellent grounding in the Early Modern literary and political scene, kept me on track, and facilitated my research despite the fact that I have a worrying tendency to be heretical. My earliest readers Catherine Smith, Clare Best and James Burt helped me identify places where the text was unclear, and the first wave of anachronisms. Kate Miller alerted me to the Marlovian leanings of Ted Hughes. To all, thank you.
It is likely this novel would be mouldering with others in my bottom drawer were it not for Robyn Young, Rupert Heath and Hilary Mantel. Robyn took the first twenty pages of The Marlowe Papers onto a train and so enthused about it to her agent that he swiftly became mine. Rupert’s faith in the book allowed him to achieve something others believed impossible. While many established novelists routinely ignore writers seeking their approval, Hilary Mantel said nice things when it mattered. All writers need angels: these were mine.
Especial thanks to Carole Welch at Sceptre for her vision in taking on so unusual a beast, for her keen editor’s eye, essential to making a good book better, and for teaching me more about etymology than I ever imagined I would know. Thanks also to Hazel Orme for her painstaking corrections and to Lucy, Nikki, Bea and Jason at Sceptre for everything they have done to help The Marlowe Papers on its way.
The largest thanks I have left almost to the last. Stephen Knight was the only person with whom I shared the novel-in-progress. He accompanied me patiently and unstintingly through the long sequestered years of this novel’s writing, rekindled my faith in the work when I had lost it, and managed to be both gentle and incisive, suggesting cuts with the kindly phrase, ‘Well, this part might not make it into the final draft, but …’ It is little wonder his students call him Saint Stephen. Without the guidance of his novelist-poet-dramatist’s eye and his ability to see the wood when I was lost in the trees, I would probably never have emerged into the light.
Finally, to my husband and children who put up with seeing very little of me for several years, kept the house ticking over despite my physical and mental absence, and largely respected the ‘No Entry’ sign on my study door. It may be that none of you read this book for a very long time, but should you ever do so, I hope you feel it was worth it.
ROS BARBER
Ros Barber is the author of three collections of poetry, the latest of which (Material, Anvil, 2008) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her poems have appeared in many publications including Poetry Review, London Magazine, the Guardian and Independent on Sunday. They have also featured in anthologies published by Faber (most recently in Poems of the Decade, 2011) and by Virago, Anvil and Seren.
Her short fiction, which won prizes in the Asham and Independent on Sunday short story competitions, has been published by Bloomsbury and Serpent’s Tail.
The Marlowe Papers was written as part of a PhD funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Born in Washington DC and raised in England, Ros Barber now lives in Brighton and has four children.
www.rosbarber.com
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE MARLOWE PAPERS. Copyright © 2012 by Ros Barber. All rights reserved. . For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
“First published in Great Britain by Sceptre/Hodder & Stoughton, Hachette—T.p. verso.
First published in Great Britain by Sceptre/
Hodder & Stoughton, Hachette
eISBN 9781250026538
First eBook Edition : December 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barber, Ros, 1964 –
The Marlowe papers : a novel / Ros Barber.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-01717-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-02653-8 (e-book)
1. Marlowe, Christopher, 1564 –1593—Fiction. 2. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Authorship—Marlowe theory—Fiction. 3. England—Social life and customs—16th century—Fiction. 4. England—Social life and customs—17th century—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6102.A73M37 2013
823’.92—dc23
2012037986
First U.S. Edition: January 2013