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Palgrave Macmillan

Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood

A Critical Companion

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Paul Kincaid

    1. Kent, UK

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  • Traces the evolution of the hero figure and its influence on contemporary fantasy
  • Explores Holdstock’s radical reimagining of British myth
  • Considers the anti-nationalistic political view that underpins the approach to mythology in the novel

Part of the book series: Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon (PSFFNC)

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Into the Wood

    • Paul Kincaid
    Pages 1-14

  3. War

    • Paul Kincaid
    Pages 15-31

  4. Time

    • Paul Kincaid
    Pages 33-48

  5. Myth

    • Paul Kincaid
    Pages 49-67

  6. Aftermath

    • Paul Kincaid
    Pages 69-80

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 81-91
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Keywords

About this book

This book is a detailed examination of one of the most important works of fantasy literature from the twentieth century. It goes through Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock considering how it engages with war on a personal and family level, how it plays with ideas of time as something fluid and disturbing, and how it presents mythology as something crude and dangerous. The book places Mythago Wood in the context of Holdstock’s other works, noting in part how complex ideas of time have been a consistent element in his fiction. The book also briefly examines how the themes laid out in Mythago Wood are carried through into later books in the sequence as well as the Merlin Codex

Reviews

“ROBERT HOLDSTOCK’S MYTHAGO WOOD WAS HONORED with multiple awards, including the World Fantasy Award both as a novelette and as a full-length novel. Paul Kincaid’s brief treatment of Holdstock’s work is compact in length but substantial in the depth of its analysis. Kincaid’s work is part of the Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon series and includes a comprehensive bibliography. … Kincaid’s assessment of Mythago Wood’s place in the fantasy canon is both assured and compelling.” (Glenn R. Gray, Mythlore, Vol. 42 (1), October, 2023)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kent, UK

    Paul Kincaid

About the author

Paul Kincaid is the author of books on Iain Banks, Christopher Priest, and Brian Aldiss, as well as two collections of essays. He has twice won the BSFA Non-Fiction Award and has also received the Science Fiction Research Association’s Thomas Clareson Award.

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