Hodd

by Adam Thorpe

Good guy or bad guy? A medieval document casts doubt on our pre-conceptions about a medieval folk hero and legend.

Who was Robin Hood? Romantic legend casts him as outlaw, archer, and hero of the people, living in Sherwood Forest with Friar Tuck, Little John and Maid Marian, stealing from the rich to give to the poor — but there is no historical proof to back this up. The early ballads portray a quite different impulsive, violent, vengeful, with no concern for the needy, no merry band, and no Maid Marian.

Hodd provides a possible answer in the form of a medieval document rescued from a ruined church on the Somme. The testimony of the monk Matthew describes life with the half-crazed bandit Hodd in the greenwood. Following the thirteenth-century principles of the “heresy of the Free Spirit,” he believed himself above God and beyond sin. Hodd and his crimes would have been forgotten without Matthew’s minstrel skills, and it is the old monk’s cruel fate to know that not only has he given himself up to apostasy and shame, but that his ballads were responsible for turning the murderous felon Robert Hodd into the most popular outlaw hero and folk legend of England, Robin Hood.

Written with his characteristic depth and subtlety, his sure understanding of folklore and precise command of detail, Adam Thorpe’s ninth novel is both a thrilling re-examination of myth and a moving reminder of how human innocence and frailty fix and harden into history.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature, Historical, Medieval, Literary Fiction, Novels

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2009

About the author

Adam Thorpe is a British poet, novelist, and playwright whose works also include short stories and radio dramas.

Adam Thorpe was born in Paris and grew up in India, Cameroon, and England. Graduating from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1979, he founded a touring theatre company, then settled in London to teach drama and English literature.

His first collection of poetry, Mornings in the Baltic (1988), was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award. His first novel, Ulverton (1992), an episodic work covering 350 years of English rural history, won great critical acclaim worldwide, including that of novelist John Fowles, who reviewed it in The Guardian, calling it "(...) the most interesting first novel I have read these last years". The novel was awarded the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for 1992.

Adam Thorpe lives in France with his wife and three children.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

As difficult a novel as I've finished in a long time, but also a marvel of sustained and disciplined imagination (all the more impressive as the novel's central conceit -- that it read as a translated Latin text written in the hand of a monk several centuries before the novel, in the form that we know it, existed -- cannot but have been hostile to Thorpe's instincts as an artist). Too thorny a read to give it five stars, but much too ambitious and visionary to give it anything lower than four, whatever its unfriendliness to the reader.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The seas are folded over us, above our heads, the lower sea becoming the upper sea and yet still blue when not girt with sea mist, which is grey and melancholy. Some men when they look up see birds, but I see only a kind of fish, sometimes in great shoals. These fish are beaked and feathered...”

So begins the true tale of Robyn Hodd, recounted by an aged monk of Whitby, whose forgotten Latin manuscript is rescued from a ruined church during the Battle of the Somme, but subsequently destroyed. We are offered an abridged translation by the rescuing officer, proofed yet never published, complete with copious footnotes.

It’s a strange and promising start for Adam Thorpe’s novel, but unfortunately Hodd never lives up to initial expectations. We follow the monk’s life story, from childhood in the company of a crazed sea-cave hermit, boyhood in a monastery, and youth in the thrall of the visionary robber Hodd...but the style (complete with flashbacks) is popular historical, heavy on the squalor and ordure and general mediaeval atmosphere, whilst the language is an awkward mix of modern and mock Middle English. Didst thou enjoy this? Nay, not much.

The doubly distanced narrative is made little use of and the footnotes are just footnotes. Post-modernists lament. Hodd does tell a tale, I suppose, and you could certainly read worse. But after the tour de force which is Ulverton, I would have expected something a bit more ambitious from Adam Thorpe’s interpretation of an archetypal English legend.

[Mieneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started this book, I was confused for a minute. I thought the book was historical fiction, a retelling of the Robin Hood myth. If so, who then was this Francis Belloes and how come there where tons of footnotes? Of course, this is the central conceit of the novel: it is a translation by the aforementioned Francis Belloes of a far older manuscript. This manuscript is the autobiography of the monk mentioned in the blurb. So it is historical fiction, just done in a very clever way.

Before getting to the meat of the novel, I want to focus on the framework for a bit. This framework consists of the translator's preface and the footnotes. I really thought these were well done. They made this book not just a historical novel of medieval times, but of World War I too. And the further the novel progresses, the more WWI intrudes into it through comments inserted into the footnotes by Belloes. The footnotes were the main reason I was confused at first. I looked some of them up and they all came out as existing titles, some of them even available from the library where I work! The amount of work that must have gone into researching not just Robin Hood and the medieval life, but into pre-Interbellum publications on Robin Hood-related texts and also WWI soldiers, is mind-boggling.

The story of Hodd isn't so much about Robin Hood as much as it is about how the legend of Robin Hood was born. The novel's narrator, a monk whose real name we never learn, was a minstrel before taking the cloth and through circumstance ends up part of Hodd's gang. The novel is divided in four parts, much as our monk's life was influenced by four masters. Only three masters are explicitly named, the hermit, Brother Thomas and Hodd, but one could name the Church as his final master under whose guidance he spent most of his days. Interspersed into the story of the monk's time as Muche in Hodd's band are his recollections of his previous masters. There are also some more theological contemplations, though never to excess as 'Belloes' has excised the largest part of these. The recollections provide an explanation of why he fell in with Hodd. They show how the monk felt himself superseded as first in his masters' affections by new boys and feared abandonment. Hodd first makes him his first disciple and this lure proves too much for Muche.

While religion figures greatly in the story, it never becomes preachy. The religious outlook of the main character isn't just due to his vocation as a monk; in the Middle Ages religion was the linchpin of most people's existence. The book also shows the long overlap between Christianity and paganism in medieval times and the way people were still searching for what Christianity was exactly, resulting in various heresies, some of which are referenced in the book's footnotes.

At the end of the book, the monk has come full circle and we've seen the birth of the Robin Hood saga as we know it. I truly enjoyed this book. While not a fast read, despite its slim 305 pages, it's an engrossing one. It's a fascinating look at how history can become legend and at the Middle Ages in all their rough, bleak glory.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have yet to have a book that I have not finished reading, Hodd threatened to be the first!! The original thought of a book written by a monk who was "truly in the presence" of Robin Hood was very compelling for me!! Only to learn that the author set in so many side tracking foot notes (and foot notes upon those foot notes) that the original narrative feel of the book is lost in what instead feels like a text book one is forced to read. Around page 150 I stopped reading and no longer had an interest to pick it up ever again. However, not to have my record tarnished I agreed to finish the book. If only I had made it to page 175 or so to begin with!! The true excitement and feel of the Robin Hood narative returns and finally stitches together several side stories followed by the narrator. It sweeps along with you no longer wanting to stop reading to the sweet reminissent end!! Definetly a book I am happy to have read now and glad that a stubborn will compelled me to pick it up again!! Dear readers, do not become frustrated by a book that seems to have no luster...keep reading and you will find it!!!

[Tom Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't an easy read and I didn't always enjoy it, but the overall imaginative concept was awesome, and that's what I remember it for most of all.

[Gerry Grenfell-Walford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an easy read, or a quick one by any means. The language is dense and obscure, with countless footnotes intruding every few lines. I'm a Mediaevalist nerd so many of the references were familiar, but several weren't so I am impressed by the scope and depth of Thorpe's research.
This is a strange book. An attempt to explain the origins of the Robin Hood legend by referencing the earliest surviving ballads and cobbling together a back story of a young boy, trying to make his way in the world, and his brief stint in an outlaw band before ending up a venerable and pious monk. Hodd here is not especially heroic, being a shyster and a liar (and a heretic to boot!). He spends far too much of his time being stoned or drunk. Still he is commanding, wild and free. A ready vessel for all the hopes and fears of the people.
It is darkly magical story though. And something of a imaginative triumph, because it is very credible and atmospheric and brooding.

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[Katie Mather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, although I found it difficult to follow in parts due to the footnotes.

A really fascinating way to tell a story and full of vivid imagery and connections with nature and death. So realistic and descriptive of life in the middle ages I felt like I should wash my hands after reading. And a surprisingly satisfying end, too.

[Amberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started and finished date - 03.11.24 to 05.11.24.
My rating - Two Stars.
This book was okay but I found this book bit boring. Both the atmosphere and the writing was fine but paced of plot was bit slow for my liking. The cover of book was okay and the characters was fine but I feel at they be flush out bit more.

[Carl Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book in an interesting era, with an interesting perspective - but some of the descriptive language does go on a bit.

[Alex Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robin Hood is one of my favorite stories, from when I was a kid to now. So any book about him will draw me in. Hodd does have a unique way of telling this story. The actual author (Adam Thorpe) writes it as an academic in the 1920’s translating on old medieval manuscript written by a monk telling his own story of meeting Robin Hood as a sort of autobiography/confession. So it’s a real author writing as a fake one translating an imaginary document. Got it?
So it’s written in the first person in a weird mix of old English and modern, and as it’s an academic ‘translation’ has footnotes explaining certain phrases. I’d say the way this is written is very awkward, for me anyway. It was hard to read easily, where many times I had to re-read sentences to get a proper grasp of it, the footnotes also broke up the flow of reading, making it very kind of stop-start. It didn’t help with my reading experience.
The idea of the story is good though, on how an elderly monk retells how he met Robin Hood, when the monk was a teenager minstrel for a priest. It say’s how Robin Hood, was more of a heretic, and this conflicting hard with the young boy’s faith and general attitude at the time. Giving Hood this crazy preacher air about him was nice touch, with him leading more of a robbing cult against the church than a bunch of rebels fighting against the king.
The story is supposed to be based on the oldest Robin Hood story; Robin Hood and the Monk, and this account was inspiration for it. The main problem I have is that Robin Hood isn’t in it enough. More is spent of the childhood of the monk, talking about as a boy he was taught by a crazy hermit living in cave, Robin Hood is barely in a third of the book. In a book called Hodd, about Robin Hood I want more than that, especially as this preaching insane heretic does seem a compelling character. The narrator of the story was nicknamed ‘Moche’ (Latin for adventure) and was a minstrel, so Moche the Minstrel became Much the Miller’s son, which I guess, is clever. But the whole idea of the book comes across as being a bit too clever, the old style of English, the use of Latin, the footnotes and constantly using different mis-spelling of words (I get it that there was no dictionary or correct spelling then, but still). The story end’s quickly, with no real mention let alone Robin Hood being there. The story is much more about ‘Moche’ and his inner conflict between his religious teachings and Hood’s heresy of there being no sin. So calling it Hodd, seems a bit of a cheat, as the while the parts with Robin’s gang are a bit more exciting, this is only a small part of the book. While a different way of telling a story, and some of the footnotes about medieval words and customs were interesting, the way it’s written and the leaving Robin Hood out for so much yet having some much about the hermit in the cave made it more of a slog than an enjoyable read.
If you’re looking for an exciting book about Robin Hood, I’d suggest Outlaw by Angus Donald. In some ways there a bit similar on Robin Hood’s character, but Outlaw is just more fun of a read, while Hodd is more of an interesting way of reading.

[Keith Currie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the rediscovered printer's proof of a translation of a lost copy of an original Thirteenth Century manuscript, this novel presents with over 400 scholarly footnotes (as well as mediaeval marginalia and Latin apparatus criticus) what is claimed to be the earliest historical record of the brutal felon later known as Robin Hood. Thorpe's novel is more concerned with identity and anonymity than with Robin Hood. The anonymous narrator of the original manuscript is a very aged and repentant old monk, who retells the story of a few years in his childhood and youth.

Here is a lonely boy searching for a father, hopelessly human and dreadfully flawed, conscious of sin as only the product of mediaeval society could be, expectant of everlasting flame of Hell when life finally will end. He cheats his first father figure, an old hermit who has taught him to read and write and play the harp; he helps murder his second, a lax and effeminate priest; and he flees the third, the deluded and sadistic Robert Hodd, the felon in the wood. There are no admirable characters here - all are flawed, creatures of their unforgiving age. Never previously have I read such a sustained and convincing picture of the mediaeval mind and world. The central conceit of rediscovered manuscript is wholly convincing, so much so that this novel is not in any sense an easy read, filled as it is with Biblical and theological references, discussion of Latin usage and disregard for consistent spelling, which may have contributed to the book's comparative lack of popular success and lukewarm critical reception when published.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the old monk's tale is the effect it has on later writers, the translator, Francis Belloes, as well as the mediaeval copiest with his cryptic interpolations. Finally, the novel impresses with its humanity and the real pity the reader feels for the unnamed narrator, as well as for battle scarred Francis Belloes, hoping to regain a purpose in life through his scholarly exposition - and failing.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've got to say this is one of the more pretentious pieces of 'literature' I've read in a while (and I did a module on literary fiction at university which was rife with prentention).
I picked it up because the Robin Hood myth is something that fascinates me, and from the back of the book, this sounded like a pleasant respite from all the fluffy merry men bullshit that is out there.
Sadly, it was trying too hard.
If it was, as it claimed, a modern translation, then why was it still full of random snippets of medieval language and latin phrases? Why were there so many damn footnotes? And mostly, why did the author feel that presenting it as a real piece of historical text was a good idea? It did just make him look like a bit of a pretentious prat.
Underneath all of this, the actual narrative was fairly interesting, and when I had the time to actually fall into it, it was fine. Sadly I do most of my reading in fits and starts either while travelling or in brief breaks between slots of work, so this immersion was rare.
Thorpe seems to have a knack for the medieval language, and obviously put time into his research to create a realistic and beautifully superstitious landscape for his characters.
In the end, I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it more if it didn't lie about what it was.

[Venetia Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many respects, this is a brilliant piece of writing - but if you're after a fast-moving adventure story, don't pick up Hodd.
The main story purports to be the translation of a 14th century Latin manuscript. A scholar finds the manuscript in WW1-ravaged France and 'translates' it into quasi-archaic English, complete with 408 footnotes. Thorpe very cleverly creates a rambling theological style for his original monk-author and a scholarly, slightly pompous tone for his Edwardian 'translator'. I am in awe of this double dose of literary magic, but unfortunately it does not make for easy reading in the 21st century!
Robin Hood is revealed to be a raving heretic and his merry men are a violent, frequently ugly and maimed bunch of drunks. Their greenwood is a gloomy copse in the midst of moorland, its trees festooned with animal and human corpses. Thus Thorpe sets out to undermine the Arcadian mythology of the chivalrous and philanthropic Hood. He succeeded most thoroughly in this reader's case.
Not an easy read, but quite unforgettable.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

If your mind keeps drifting to other things when you are reading a book it is not a good sign

This is not a bad book, just not a good read for me. The book is as much about the minstrel / monk as it is about Robin Hood. The voice of the book is as if you are reading a 13th century monk's diary. It is well done, but I found it long winded and a bit boring. There is one thing the author does that I found really annoying. I know there are various interpretations of the name Robin Hood. Thorpe constantly changes the spelling of Hood's and other's names which I found frustrating. He even uses two different spellings in two consecutive sentences. Why?

I was really looking to enjoy this book because Thorpe's The Rules of Perspective is one of my all time favorite books. Sadly it was not to be.

[Ches Torrants · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a gruelling tale, set in a time of poverty and squalor. A young boy, schooled in the relentlessly judgmental religion of the 13th century, is captured by an outlaw band. He survives under the protection of Hodd, their charismatic leader and user of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Hodd is captured. "Litl John" and the boy rescue him. It is a classic Robin Hood adventure.

But behind it lies another adventure. A British soldier found a manuscript in a ruined church during WWI. He later translated it before losing the original in a house fire. His translation remained as a printer's proof until discovered by the present author. None of which is true, I now realise. It is just an attractive sub-plot, to give provenance to a well-researched fiction about the origin of Robin Hood's legend.

Very impressive writing, but not easy reading.

[Paul Pensom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most reviewers I found this a most frustrating but ultimately beguiling read. The oft-mentioned blizzard of footnotes threatened to halt my progress completely, and I took to avoiding the book altogether for a while. I only began to make headway once I decided to ignore the annotation, and then the story began to shine through.

And what a fascinating story it is; an Eco-like conceit whereby a hapless young musician finds himself thrown into a horrifying den of thieves, and through his travails inadvertently gives birth to one of England's most enduring legends. If there ever was one who went by the name of Robin Hood, then I fancy his story would not be altogether too different from this one.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

What to make of Hodd. There's no denying it's incredibly clever and there are passages of brilliance but every time the story gets up to speed it stalls.

Like other reviewers I was drawn to the idea of a retelling of the Robin Hood legend through an unromanticised lense. But Adam Thorpe has cloaked this retelling in the guise of a recovered manuscript- a monk's memoirs complete with footnoted commentary by a 1920s translator and he takes such pains to make this framework authentic that the story drowns among the rambling theological concerns of its narrator and his childhood reminiscences which are important for character but feel crow-barred into the plot.

A miss for me but a brave effort that almost struck its ambitious target.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robin Hood's story as told through the eyes of a young boy who joins his gang for a short period. The premise of this book is quite interesting as it's done in the form of a manuscript with supposed editing and notes done by a historian in the early 20th century. However, the story itself is really rather dull and it feels like nothing in particular happens. I started to lose faith in the author at the beginning of the book when he referred to St Edmund's Abbey in Doncaster. Doncaster has never had an abbey, only a Greyfriars' monastery and Carmelite Priory and the only monastic 'house' dedicated to St Edmund was a chantry in the nearby village of Sprotbrough.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

The true story of Robin Hood, less saviour of the people, more thief, murderer, torturer and all round nasty guy.
The style is meant to be a translation of a text written by a monk who, as a boy, was part of Hodd's roving horde. Intended to show how legends can be created from misinterpreted/mistranslated texts, what can across more was the savagery, one bloody act of spitefulness after another.
That's the main thing I remember about this book, the acts of cruelty, the torture, the hideous ways to kill or maim the people who displeased Hodd. Any theological points were completely lost on me, the fact that Hodd holds himself as above the law came across as stereotypical psychopathy.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a most unusual book to read as it is actually a translation from the Latin of a lost original medieval document that was rescued by the translator from a ruined church on the Somme. The document is a testimony of the Monk Matthew and it describes life with the bandit 'Hodd' in the greenwood who believes himself above God and beyond sin, following the 13Century principles of the 'heresy of the Free Spirit". The monk's ballads were responsible for turning the murderous felon Robert Hodd into the most popular outlaw hero and folk legend of England, Robin Hood.

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't live up to its billing. I'd heard a lot of hype about this book, and would have been happy to read "a thrilling re-examination of myth", but far from thrilling it's a rather repetitive walk down memory lane of a monastic-page turned outlaw turned monastic, Much the Miller's son. In Thorpe's vision, the narrator spends a huge amount of time discussing theological issues that would be of no interest even to the most devout modern Christian (Thorpe then elides much of that, but it's still so boring...). Skip it.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was prompted to buy this based on some good newspaper reviews. It's set in a period of history which I find interesting and the legend of Robin Hood usually makes for a good read.

However, this book is only very vaguely concerned with Hood and is much more about Matthew, a minstrel whose ballads are responsible for the mythologising of Hood over the centuries.

An intriguing tale, only 300 pages long, but it is not an easy read.

[Sean Rosebrugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really about Robin Hood. Mostly about the inner thoughts of a confused young man lost in a world he doesn't understand. Highly impressionable and not that bright, our hero tells a story of his wasted life in a confusing memoir. Loaded with intentional spelling mistakes and useless footnotes (that may or my not reference real things) I give this book 2 stars. Adam Thorpe tried something here and it failed.

[Lorna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was something very academic trying to be very clever but not what is expected in a novel. therefore really rather pretentious. I never give up and about half way through it did manage to engage me but that is not a really good recommendation! It dragged itself up from a 1 to something a little bit better.

[Ayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent retelling of the Robin Hood myth, in the manner of a discovered Mediaeval manuscript. Puts forward a very interesting scenario of how the exploits of a band of ne'er do wells could become the stuff of legend. Considering it's written in faux-medieval, I found it a gripping and atmospheric read.

[Steeve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, albeit somewhat inaccessible. It takes a while to get used to the writing style. It's one of those books that one must sit back and absorb, rather than having it take one along, it's not a page turner.

[Sharla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book -- it was very refreshing to read a book set in a medieval time period without any anachronisms! The take on the Robin Hood story was also very interesting, and was grounded in what I understand to be actual historical fact.

[Ginger Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

See: http://selfconsciousposturing.blogspo...

[Thomas Ohlgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb modern retelling of the Robin Hood legend. Here is a dark hero indeed and no social bandit.