I have just finished reading the 'Thomas Covenant' trilogy by Stephen Donaldson. It was recommended to me by my doctor and good friend.
As he read it, he kept a list of all the words he had never read before. I think he said he had four pages of words by the end. All checked in the dictionary. I didn't do that myself, but he was right ...
On the subject of language, here is an interesting fact about Shakespeare - he had the largest vocabulary of anyone in his time, according to some linguists. Yet he was a semi-educated merchant. And when he died, his will included no books. His children, and parents, were illiterate according to many sources.
This is the main argument for the assertion that he was not the author of the works attributed to him.
Christopher Marlowe, considered by some as the likely author of many of the works,was murdered in 1593.
From wikipedia -
Marlowe was reputed to be an
atheist, which, at that time, held the dangerous implication of being an enemy of God.
[55] Some modern historians, however, consider that his professed atheism, as with his supposed Catholicism, may have been no more than an elaborate and sustained pretence adopted to further his work as a government spy.
[56] Contemporary evidence comes from Marlowe's accuser in
Flushing, an informer called
Richard Baines. The governor of Flushing had reported that each of the men had "of malice" accused the other of instigating the counterfeiting, and of intending to go over to the Catholic "enemy"; such an action was considered atheistic by the Protestants, who constituted the dominant religious faction in England at that time. Following Marlowe's arrest in 1593, Baines submitted to the authorities a "note containing the opinion of one Christopher Marly concerning his damnable judgment of religion, and scorn of God's word."
[57] Baines attributes to Marlowe a total of eighteen items which "scoff at the pretensions of the
Old and
New Testament"
[14]such as, "Christ was a ******* and his mother dishonest [unchaste]", "the woman of Samaria and her sister were whores and that Christ knew them dishonestly", and, "St
John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned always in his bosom" (cf.
John 13:23–25), and, "that he used him as the sinners of
Sodom". He also implies that Marlowe had Catholic sympathies. Other passages are merely sceptical in tone: "he persuades men to atheism, willing them not to be afraid of bugbears and hobgoblins".
A government spy !
Which is why he was banished for some time ...
Hmmm ....
