Wednesday 14 April 2010

This is what real academics are like

The Guardian has a piece on Robin Hood today, a fascinating examination of the mythos. My old PhD examiner, Prof. Stephen Knight is quoted:

Stephen Knight, professor of English literature at Cardiff University and one of the world's leading authorities on the literary evolution of Robin Hood, calls the search for the real outlaw "vulgar empiricism". Who cares if there was a real Robin Hood? There's a real myth which is living and breathing."
"Most historians think my work is shit, real shit," says Knight with disarming honesty.

His book on Robin Hood is the business: a cultural history rather than a desperate attempt to nail the name onto some bloke.

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