Christmastime Texts and the Popularity of the Robin Hood Tradition

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-80270-060-2
Verlag: Arc Humanities Press

Buch, Englisch, 276 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Medieval Media and Culture

This is the first full-length study of Robin Hood Christmastime poems, novels, short stories, dramatic and musical performances, material culture, and media. Set in the cozy confines (and harsh climate) of the winter months, there exists a unique genre within the Robin Hood tradition, the winterwood, one that over the centuries has helped to secure the popularity of the outlaw and create and maintain memories of him for audiences of all ages. These winterwood stories unite the Robin Hood tradition with the Christmastime season, welcome performance and performativity, embrace and interrogate the commercial aspect of the season, and are created mostly for children and for families to experience together. As Christmas is a time for peace, mercy, and goodwill toward all, Robin Hood is both the good outlaw and also the trickster, for in these winterwood texts he becomes an exemplar of “proper” Christmastime moral thought and action.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kaufman, Alexander L.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Kinder- und Jugendliteratur, Märchen, Mythen, Sagen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction
Chapter One. The Early Authorities of the Winterwood
Chapter Two. Winterwood Theatre in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Chapter Three. Mobile Winterwood Texts
Chapter Four. Winterwood Books that Delight and Instruct
Chapter Five. The Postmodern Winterwood
Postscript. Winterwood Ghosts of the Past, Present, and Future

Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Kaufman, Alexander L.
Alexander L. Kaufman is the Reed D. Voran Distinguished Professor of Honors Humanities and Professor of English at Ball State University, where he teaches in the Honors College.