e u l a m a

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.

Stephen Knight is Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University. Arguably the world’s foremost authority on Robin Hood, he is the author of  Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw and many other books, including several on the outlaw tradition.

Contents:

Chapter I: Bold Robin Hood

Bold and Strange    1

Glimpses of an Outlaw    3

Gatherings of Robin Hood      8

Rhymes of Robin Hood    13

A Proud Outlaw     21

Garlands for Robin Hood       33

Chapter II: Robert, Earl of Huntington

Toward a Lord     44

Dramatizing Gentrification      49

The Noble Earl on Stage   52

A Lady for a Lord    58

Lord Robert’s Origin      63

Pastoral Lordship   65

Gentrified Broadsides     73

A Real Lord Robin   83

A Gentleman on the Eighteenth-Century Stage     89

Chapter III: Robin Hood Esquire

Transmitting an Outlaw    94

Romantic Yeoman       98

Lord of the Forest   119

A Novel Outlaw     124

Outside the Mainstream   142

Chapter IV: Robin Hood of Hollywood

The Outlaw on Screen    150

A Visual Image     150

Varying the Pattern      162

Alternative Screen Robins      170

Robin Hood in Fiction     174

A Schoolchild’s Hero     174

The Outlaw in Historical Fiction   182

Marian Takes Over      185

History and Myth    193

Outlaw Identifications     193

Outlaw Politics     198

A Forest Spirit     202

How Many Robin Hoods?      204

Notes       211

Works Cited       231

Index   241

Some reviews:

"Stephen Knight's book documents the enormous scope of the myth—revolutionary, reactionary, chivalric, homosexual, patriotic, or whatever the audience will allow, even slapstick. A final mythic trait of Robinalia is its ability to parody itself. Errol Flynn defined the character for film: the animated Robin Fox in the Disney cartoon imitates Flynn, and his was the voice, uncredited, of Rabbit Hood in the 1949 Warner Brothers' cartoon. Prince of Thieves was mocked by Princess of Thieves and Prince of Frogs, and so on. Like any great myth, this is a tale that no one ever hears for the first time."

Wendy Doniger, London Review of Books, 26:14, July 22, 2004

" For those of us who joined the merry-men (and women) of Sherwood Forest when young, Mr. Knight's 'mythic biography' lets us revisit our earlier selves with an enlarged vision of the romance of liberty and equality that attracted us."

Alexandra Mullen, New York Sun, August 21, 2003

"One rarely has the opportunity to read the biography of someone who never physically existed, but that is exactly the opportunity Stephen Knight has given us with Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. . . . [It] will be most useful to those teaching Robin Hood stories for children who wish to have resource material to inform their lectures. Those researching Robin Hood stories for children will also want to read this book, as well as anyone generally interested in the Robin Hood phenomenon."

Elizabeth L. Pandolfo Briggs, Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 28:3, Fall 2003

"Knight, in a remarkable and witty study of the formation and recreation 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."

Rob Hardy Columbus, MS Commercial Dispatch September 3, '03

"If anyone's qualified to write this book, it's Knight. He is, no doubt, the world's most knowledgeable expert on Robin Hood. . . . Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography is a worthwhile addition to the library of anyone interested in Robin Hood."

Jack Merry, greenmanreview.com

"Stephen Knight's witty and accessible piece of cultural history takes us through the various transformations that the Robin Hood story has undergone since its emergence early in the 15th century."

The Age, August 23, 2003

“Stephen Knight's astute, readable, and thoroughly researched analysis of the whole history of the Robin Hood phenomenon follows the hero from Sherwood bandit to Hollywood star, leader of an all-male band to object of feminist parody, Crusader to puppet frog. This is a book to be read by everyone interested in the growth of the Robin Hood story, and from which future scholars should take their bearings.”

Helen Cooper, Oxford University 

“Stephen Knight is the premier Robin Hood scholar in the world. Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography sets out the remarkable links and patterns that Knight was the first to trace or call attention to. It makes available all the rich and often surprising details, plots, and themes that increasingly attract writers, visual artists, and those interested in entertainment, children's literature, theatrical traditions, sociology, and folklore.”

Thomas Hahn, University of Rochester

"Professor Knight's new book, then, is a contribution to literary history of a sort especially useful for undergraduate study. I used the book this winter as a "recommended" text in a Robin Hood course, and I will be very pleased to see it issued in a paperback edition priced for students. It is also a book that will be of value to any scholar studying Robin Hood, from literary or historical perspectives, and as such merits a place in college and university libraries."

Stephen R. Reimer, University of Alberta, Canadian Journal of History, August 2004, vol. 39

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