This book is an overview and analysis of the global tradition of the outlaw hero. The mythology and history of the outlaw hero is traced from the Roman Empire to the present, showing how both real and mythic figures have influenced social, political, economic and cultural outcomes in many times and places. The book also looks at the contemporary continuations of the outlaw hero mythology, not only in popular culture and everyday life, but also in the current outbreak of global terrorism.
The book also presents a more general argument related to the importance of understanding folk and popular mythologies in historical contexts. Outlaw heroes have a strong purchase in high and popular culture, appearing in film, books, plays, music, drama, art, even ballet. To simply ignore and discard such powerful expressions without understanding their origins, persistence and especially their ongoing cultural consequences, is to refuse the opportunity to comprehend some profoundly important aspects of human behaviour. These issues are pursued through discussion of the processes through which real and mythical outlaw heroes are romanticised, sentimentalised, sanitised, commodified and mythologised. The result is a new position in the continuing controversy over the existence the ‘social bandit’ that highlights the central role of mythology in the creation and perpetuation of outlaw heroes.
Table of Content
Preface; 1. Introduction: The Outlawed Hero; Part One: Myths and Histories; 2. Before Robin Hood; 3. Heroic Types; 4. Medieval Marauders; 5. Myth and History; Part Two: Politics and Identities; 6. Contested Frontiers; 7. Troubled Borders; 8. Identities; 9. Kingdoms in Miniature; Part Three: Legends and Commodities; 10. Afterlives; 11. Consuming Outlaws; 12. Lethal Legends; Part Four: The Global Outlaw; 13. The Robin Hood Principle; 14. The Common Good; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index
About the author
Graham Seal is Professor of Folklore and Director of the Australia-Asia-Pacific Institute at Curtin University, Australia. He has a distinguished national profile as a founder of folklore studies in Australia, and is also a leading and widely cited international authority on the cultural traditions of the hero.
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