Friday, July 17, 2009

"Sherwood" by Parke Godwin

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2 comments:

  1. Jean SwansonJuly 17, 2009 at 10:03 PM

    1.
    For about 150 years, it has been tradition to place these events in the time of The Crusades. This is the second time we have had our forest outlaw's story set in the time period either in the century after The Battle of Hastings, or immediately following it, as in this case.

    Parke Godwin has skilfully used history as a literal character in this story: How has THIS affected the way our heroes have been portrayed? (Has it opened up a greater means to explore the development of them as individuals by using the backdrop of England's development as a nation ...or has this different setting had an affect at all?

    2. Robin and Marian are the most well known of the couples portrayed here, but their romance is NOT always at center stage. We have not just one, but FIVE wonderful romantic couples Mr. Godwin has given us in his version of The Legend.

    a. Robin and Marian (of course)

    b.Robin's parents, Maud and Aelred, (son of Brihtnoth and Gruntada, OK, there might our sixth couple?)

    c. "Mora' and "Gilly" (I couldn't get over these little nicknames!!): (AKA: William Plantagenet, Duke Of Normandy, King of England , called The Conqueror, and with some "affection" by the Saxons (and others, LOL) "Willy Bastard", and his little "mini queen" (If it can be said that the best things DO come in the smallest of packages, it was THIS lady!!), Matilda of Flanders, (what a gal!! If you ask me, Eleanore and Henry had A LOT to live up to in THIS couple.) This is THE most personal and human portrait I have read to date of these two English monarchs.

    d. Ralph Fitz-Gerald and Judith, (Robin's cousin)

    e. Will Scatloche (Scarlet), and Angharad.

    Which was the most romantic of the five, and/or which was your favorite and why?
    How did their respective stories affect

    (or may yet affect, as we have two more books in the series to go,"Robin and The King" and the final one Godwin is working on as we keyboard, "Conscience Of The King")

    the outcome of the story?

    3. Can you see our tvRH cast in Godwin's roles, and if so, which ones?

    4. During the course of this story, Robin and Ralph Fitz-Gerald, (our Lord High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire), share a love of Marian, an equally deep sense of duty and honor, and not the least, of raw determination, and good old fashioned courage; (sound like two other men WE know?)

    Both of them are DEEPLY flawed men, and YET, these two manage no small miracle between them...they become ALLIES. This is in spite of their open animosity and conflict, AND managing to deal each other a death blow, more than a few times over!. They actually come to RESPECT each other, AND openly work together. Ralph even manages to marry Robin's cousin Judith. So, they not only become allies, but family as well.

    Could you see any of THIS happening to OUR Robin and Guy? Would you LIKE to this happen and why.

    Given the political realities In Godwin's tale, do you think Robin and Ralph will REMAIN allies? If they don't, how will this affect the relationship between Robin and Judith, and Marian and Judith?


    5. Parke Godwin speaks of men like Robin "groping" towards a "justice" for which they did not yet have words, and yet had a "sure instinct" for those words. How, in your opinion, has The Legend itself, managed to help us find those words, and in what ways have those words been written and continue to be written...are there further chapters yet to come?

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  2. Jean SwansonJuly 17, 2009 at 10:03 PM

    pt 2
    6. Some of the more well known characters, Little John, (John Littlereede), Friar Tuck, and Much meet untimely deaths rather early in this version of The Legend. (My Beg Bear dies......and such a tragic person too, Sigh, THIS I did not like!).

    Did YOU like this? (or not?), and do you see others coming up to take their place, if at all?

    7. Once again, we have the mystical/Celtic element brought into the story. What did you think of "The Bargain" ceremony that Robin and Marian take at the trunk of the oak tree? Would you have liked to see our tv Robin and Marian do something like this? Do you think our writers have possibly managed to convey this by:

    a. putting Robin and Marian in a tree when they shared their last romantic kiss

    b. Robin "popping the question" UNDER a tree, (and yet over a fresh grave, any significance in THAT one, considering the outcome of S2?)

    c. Robin gives Marian her engagement ring literally IN a tree

    d. Robin 'buries" her ring under that very same tree?


    8. Robin's grandmother, turns out, was a powerful Wicca priestess when she "caught the eye of Brihtnoth of Denby", Robin's grandfather. Robin is also spoken and/or thought of as "god touched" as Will Scarlet puts it , learns to read and write in VERY short order, and impresses even William and Queen Matilda; (but neither of them can say just WHY he impresses them?)

    Considering OUR darlin Robin's 'uncanny" ability with bow.....would you like to have a revelation of this sort, be brought out in our tvRH, (or perhaps just hinted at?)

    9. Marian is portrayed as an orphan, of common birth, and a homeless refugee when Robin finds her on the road. Did you like this portrait of her, why or why not?

    10. Robin is portrayed as a central figure in this version, but it NOT the one upon whom the ENTIRE story revolves upon. He is caught up in the larger events of history, and must some how survive them as best he can.

    Have our tvRH writing staff managed to convey this at all? If not, will they do this in the short time they have left?

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