Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "He lives in the greenwood and is expert with a bow; he leads a group of doughty fighters who resist the corrupt church, the sheriff,..." (more)
Key Phrases: outlaw myth, bold yeoman, mythic biography, Guy of Gisborne, Maid Marian, Prince John (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Knight's witty, accessible piece of cultural history takes us through the various transformations that Robin Hood's story has undergone." -- The Age, August 23, 2003

"...Robin Hood, the outlaw and eternal 'trickster,' is still evolving, having long ago transcended his national and historical origins." -- Salon.com, July 2003

"Knight valiantly conveys everything said and done about our hero since the last quarter of the 14th century..." -- The Globe and Mail, June 21, 2003

"The mythical character of Robin Hood has become an icon...Knight is extremely knowledgeable about his subject..." -- Library Journal, June 1, 2003

Product Description

The only figure in the Dictionary of National Biography who is said never to have existed, Robin Hood has taken on an air of reality few historical figures achieve. His image in various guises has been put to use as a subject of ballads, nationalist rallying point, Disney cartoon fox, greenclad figure of farce, tabloid fodder, and template for petty criminals and progressive political candidates alike.

In this engaging and deeply informed book Stephen Knight looks at the different manifestations of Robin Hood at different times and places in a mythic biography with a thematic structure. The best way to get at the essence of the Robin Hood myth, Knight believes, is in terms not of chronological and generic progression but of the purposes served by heroes. Each of the book’s four central chapters identifies a particular model of the hero, mythic or biographic, which dominated in certain periods and in certain genres, and explores their interrelations, their implications, and their historical and sociopolitical contexts.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press; illustrated edition edition (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801438853
• ISBN-13: 978-0801438851
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #788,745 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Development of a Necessary Hero, August 31, 2003

By	R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Every culture has need for stories about the outlaw hero. Odysseus, in way, was one, as was William Tell, and John Wayne as the Ringo Kid. Jesus's story certainly conforms to the myth of the "good outlaw," and a more contemporary version was Martin Luther King. The figure best known for being a hero and being an outlaw, however, has been with us for over six hundred years: Robin Hood. Now he has an authoritative life story: _Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography_ (Cornell University Press) by Stephen Knight. Knight, a professor of literature at Cardiff University, is an authority on all Robin Hood lore, but does not here restrict himself to the early ballads of Bold Robin. In a witty and universal tour of the legend, he takes in all the Hollywood and television versions, and even the parodies. Most of them stay quite close to the Robin Hood legend as it was formed in its early stages.

The question for any biographer of such a legend always is: "Did he really exist?" There is an eagerness to find a real human being who performed Robin's feats, or at least served as a starting point for the stories. But Knight doubts there was any real figure: "... it seems highly improbable, or at least unprovable, that a Mr. R. Hood ever existed." It is far more likely that the character in the ancient plays and poems "...is the original Robin Hood, real only in the sense that he is the focus of a real myth." The important thing is not the Robin Hood incarnate, but what tellers and audiences made of him. For those who needed monetary relief, he began not only to rob from the rich but to give to the poor. For those who were distressed over corruption, he especially robbed sleazy officials of the state and church. For those needing national or racial identity, he became Saxon against the bad Norman Prince John. In the twentieth century, he raised his bow against (metaphorically) Nazism and McCarthyism.

Robin Hood has been portrayed by Kermit the Frog (whose green made him a natural for the role). In _Time Bandits_ he was John Cleese, stiffly introducing himself: "Hello, I'm Hood," and going on to explain the nature of the poor he is bound to assist: "I'm sure you'll like them. Of course they haven't got two pennies to rub together but that's because they're poor." Robin's outfit received top billing in Mel Brooks's _Robin Hood: Men in Tights_; Knight explains the association of tights to the story thus: they were "originally deployed so that nineteenth-century actresses playing Robin could show their legs." The myth has proved powerful enough to survive much kidding, and not just recently; a 1600 play _Looke About You_, has the unique stage direction "Enter Robin Hood in the Lady Faukenbridge's gowne, night attire on his head." Knight, in a remarkable and witty study of the formation and re-creation of a legend, shows that in times of oppression, Robin Hood has always been there for us as resistance to authority. May he ever fight on.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hero every age has claimed, October 9, 2007

By	Bobby Newman (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robin Hood is a cultural icon, one of those stories everyone believes they know. It would surprise causual readers, however, just how much of what we think we know about Robin Hood has changed across the years. Many of the stories surrounding the figure, for example, never discussed stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Stealing from the rich, maybe. Giving to the poor? Not so much. Knight has provided us with thorough scholarship, from the earliest ballads through the hollywood movies and television programs (across several countries). The eye for detail is apparent, right down to the fact that the actor playing "Will Scarlet O'Hara" in the "Men in Tights" send-up later wound up playing Hood himself in a Hercules/Xena type television series. Knight is a man who has done his homework! How and why each era claims Hood for its own, and just how this may or may not have corresponded to any true Robin Hood, if there was such a person, is explored. The book is indispensible for the bookshelf of any Hood fan. My only hope would have been for a bit more discussion of Howard Pyle, a personal favorite retelling.