Cultural Lives of Greyhounds

John Stokes is Emeritus Professor of Modern British Literature in the Department of English at King's College London, UK. His publications include In the Nineties (1990), Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations (1996) and The French Actress and her English Audience (2005), as well as numerous academic articles and reviews. He co-edited The Cambridge Companion to the Actress (2007) and two volumes of journalism for The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (2013). He is a regular reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement.

• 1. Introduction: Ghost Dogs.- 2. Wind Hound: greyhound as metaphor.- 3. Daphne’s Dog (Metamorphosis 1).- 4. Diana’s Hounds (Metamorphosis 2).- 5. Edge of the Wood: Uccello’s ‘The Hunt in the Forest’.- 6. Fleeting Thoughts: the language of coursing.- 7. ‘Hector’s a Greyhound’: Shakespeare’s favourite dog.- 8. ‘All that leaps and runs’: Romantic pursuits.- 9. Chiens d’utilité/ Chiens de luxe: the changing status of le lévrier.- 10. ‘Le lévrier, c’est moi’: identity and the modern dog.- 11. The Long Dogs go to War: conflict as sport.- 12. ‘Un facio di frecce’: D’Annunzio’s decadent pack.- 13. Coursing Costumes and Deco Dianas.- 14. Cuchulain’s Breed: legends of the Celtic hound.- 15. ‘Ascot it wasn’t’: victors and victims of the Irish track.- 16. Born to Lose: comic results.- 17. The Last Cockney: London says farewell.- 18. ‘Gelert’s dying yell’: saviour and survivor.