The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
December 7th 2006 07:46
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Mists of Avalon is the quintessential Goddess novel and perhaps the most widely read fantasy that accrues to Robert Grave-ish idea of a line of matriarchal goddesses displaced by patriarchal warriors.
Marion Zimmer Bradley is an American author taken in by the British folklore and The Mists of Avalon is her most successful fantasy.. It is a rehash of, what else, Arthurian legends now retold from the viewpoint of Morgaine, Arthur's sister, bedmate and enemy.
Avalon is the magic island of worshippers of the native goddess of Britain which is rapidly disappearing in mists as Britain is taken over by Christianity. Morgaine was raised to be a priestess in Avalon. Unknown to each other, she mates with her own brother Arthur which starts off the novel. He becomes the king of Britain and she a priestess of Avalon and so, they become the protagonists of the supposed battle between Paganism and Chrisitianity.
I did not like the novel too much for its lush desrciptive prose is matched by mechanical plotting and dull characters. It struck me as nothing more than an erotic foursome orgy where everybody sleeps with everybody else. Bradely ends up sex-kitsch trying to imagine the freer, wilder pagan ways. And like Ursuala Le Guin, she is much too constricted by feminist dogma to adequately represent a three-dimensional world.
| 49 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
