Stephen Thomas Knight

Stephen Thomas Knight MA (Oxon.) PhD (Sydney). F.A.H.A., F.E.A. (born September 21, 1940) currently holds the position of Distinguised Research Professor at Cardiff University in the School of English, Communications and Philosophy. His areas of expertise include English literature, Medieval literature, Cultural studies, Crime fiction, Robin Hood and Australian matters [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/encap/staff/sknight.html] . He has published a large number of books that have addressed these issues, and is best known in the public sphere for his contributions to modern-day debate on the legend of Robin Hood, on King Arthur, and on medieval cultural studies.

Knight is currently working on a mythic biography of Merlin [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/encap/staff/sknight.html] .

Biography

Knight was educated at Bournemouth Grammar School and at Jesus College, Oxford. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1962, having specialised in Medieval English Literature. He was appointed Teaching Fellow at the University of Sydney in 1963 and lecturer in English in 1964. In 1968-69 he was lecturer in English at the Australian National University. He returned to the University of Sydney in 1970 where he was successively Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor. In 1987 he was appointed Robert Wallace Professor of English at the University of Melbourne. In 1992 Knight returned to England to take up a chair at the De Montfort University at Leicester [http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms9336] . In 1994, he took up a position at Cardiff University as Professor of English. He is currently a Distinguished Research Professor, having also held the position of Head of the School of English, Philosophy and Mass Communications at Cardiff for a period [http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/encap/staff/sknight.html] .

Most of Knight's scholarly writings have been in the area of medieval English literature, and he has written extensively on Robin Hood and Arthurian legend in particular. Knight has also had a long interest in crime fiction. Between 1989 and 1992 he edited four anthologies of Australian crime stories.

Works

Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography

In this mythic biography, Stephen Knight traces the origins of the legend, providing invaluable insights into why Robin Hood is still such an essential and evolving legend in our culture and literature. Here, Knight presents many of the truths and fallacies of Robin Hood, as he explores our conceptions and representations of the legend.

We may never know for sure whether or not Robin Hood was a real historical figure. Knight draws from Wyntoun, Bower and other medieval writers to suggest the view that Robin Hood existed in the same way as King Arthur, Herne the Hunter, the devil, the saints, etc. These figures are enduring forces in our culture, and thus can be said to exist. But other scholars want a more definitive answer.

The question of Robin Hood's existence may never have a definitive answer. The Robin Hood legend has now taken on a life of its own, influenced by other outlaws like William Wallace. In fact, "The resemblance between Robin Hood and William Wallace is striking: both are provoked to outlawry by legal violence, both go disguised as a potter, and both command substantial numbers of well-disciplined men."

"To study Robin Hood," as Knight explains, "is to study over five hundred years of the development of modern concepts of heroism, art, politics, and the self. It is an exciting and enthralling domain of study, that can in itself become a guide to the changing patterns and dynamics of society and culture over an enormous period."

Robin Hood is a constant presence in our history and literature, even as we change his name and appearance. Archetypal in form, he can represent Nature, a Folk-Hero, and a Trickster (although these elements of his character often intertwine and coalesce into what could be named the Robin Hood archetypal figure). He's been portrayed as an elf-figure, but he emerged with many more faces and character types, with a multiplicity of forms. [http://classiclit.about.com/cs/productreviews/fr/aafpr_robinmyth.htm]

Bibliography

Select Bibliography

*Knight, Stephen (1973) "The Poetry of the Canterbury Tales". Sydney : Angus and Robertson.
*Knight, Stephen (1980) "Form and Ideology in Crime Fiction". London : Macmillan.
*Knight, Stephen (1983) "Arthurian Literature and Society". London : Macmillan.
*Knight, Stephen (1986) "Geoffrey Chaucer". Oxford : Blackwell.
*Knight, Stephen (1990) "The Selling of the Australian Mind: From First Fleet to Third Mercedes". Melbourne : William Heinemann Australia.
*Knight, Stephen (1994) "Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw". Oxford : Blackwell.
*Knight, Stephen (1994) "Freedom Was Compulsory". Melbourne : Minerva.
*Knight, Stephen (1997) "Continent of Mystery: A Thematic History of Australian Crime Fiction". Melbourne : Melbourne University Press.
*Knight, Stephen & Gustav Klaus (Eds) (1998) "The Art of Murder". Stauffenburg Verlag.
*Knight, Stephen (Ed) (1998) "Robin Hood: The Forresters Manuscript". Cambridge : D.S. Brewer.
*Knight, Stephen & Gustav Klaus (Eds) (2000) "British Industrial Fictions". Cardiff : University of Wales Press.
*Knight, Stephen (2003) "Robin Hood: a Mythic Biography". Ithaca and London : Cornell University Press.
*Knight, Stephen (2004) "A Hundred Years of Fiction: Writing Wales in English". Ithaca and Cardiff : University of Wales Press.
*Knight, Stephen (2004) "Crime Fiction, 1800-2000: Detection, Death, Diversity". London : Palgrave Macmillan.

Related Works

*Evans, Fulton & Matthews (Eds.) (2006) "Medieval Cultural Studies: Essays in Honour of Stephen Knight". Cardiff : University of Wales Press.