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

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

Autorentext

Paul Kincaid has won the Thomas Clareson Award from the Science Fiction Research Association, and has twice won the BSFA Non-Fiction Award. He has been shortlisted on multiple occasions for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work, The British Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award.

Inhalt
1 Introduction: Into the Wood.- 2 War.- 3 Time.- 4 Myth.- 5 Aftermath.- Bibliography.- Index.