The school of night

Abstract

Questions have been raised over the last two centuries about the authenticity of William Shakespeare's claim to have authored the works attributed to him. One intriguing line of argument has always been the Marlovian one. Marlowe is thought to have been a member of a mysterious group, the School of Night, whose centre was that mercurial figure Walter Raleigh. The novel explores the authorship question through the focus of the School of Night, 1590s science and belief, the conflict between Ptolemaic and Copernican science, and the nature of authorship itself.