The Mists of Avalon is a historical fantasy novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, published in 1983. It tells the story of the Arthurian legend from the perspective of the female characters, including the sorceress Morgan le Fay and the queen Guinevere.
The novel begins with the story of Igraine, the mother of King Arthur, and her marriage to the Duke of Cornwall. Igraine is a powerful sorceress and a priestess of the old religion, which worships the Mother Goddess and practices magic. Her husband, the Duke, is a Christian and does not approve of her beliefs.
As the story unfolds, we see the rise of Arthur as the King of Britain and the conflicts that arise between the old religion and the new Christianity. The Mists of Avalon portrays the struggle for power between the two religions as a struggle for the hearts and minds of the people.
The novel also explores the relationships between the female characters, including the sisterhood of the nine priestesses of Avalon, who are the guardians of the Holy Grail. Morgan le Fay, who is Arthur's half-sister, is a complex and multifaceted character who is both a villain and a hero in the story. She is a powerful sorceress who is deeply devoted to the old religion, but she is also a manipulative and scheming woman who is willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants.
Overall, The Mists of Avalon is a compelling and thought-provoking novel that offers a fresh perspective on the Arthurian legend. It is a tribute to the strength and resilience of women and the enduring power of the old religion in the face of change.
Wikizero
Unlike the other two books mentioned in the beginning, I have never read this one again after the first time. Retrieved August 22, 2014. Summary: Many will enjoy this book. There is one main problem with this approach: let's face it, women's lives in the dark ages were pretty boring. I felt it was a good book although it did get boring at times or maybe it was just me! Accolon follows her outside. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.
The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
I mean if you wanted to write a book in which the antagonists were all evil Christians then you're on the right track, but this was supposed to be a book on King Arthur, dang it, not of your personal hate issues with Christians. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. The third aspect of the trinity is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Meanwhile, Morgaine and Accolon kiss amongst the dancing pagans. Chiefest among them, as she believes, are her failure to persuade Arthur to outlaw pagan religious practice in Britain and her forbidden love for Galahad, Arthur's cousin and finest knight, who is also known as On the eve of a decisive battle against the Saxons, Gwenhwyfar prevails upon Arthur to put aside his father's Pendragon banner and replace it with her own Christian banner. Gwenhwyfar, angered and distressed, dismisses her.
And then today I read this: And this: And this: And this: And about twenty more. Bradely was just too stupid to notice the contradiction. It's a difficult book long and utterly depressing, but it takes the first in-depth look at both women and the pagan Celtic religion of Britain, which Christianity usurped around that time. She tells in narration. They go riding one day, only to be attacked by Saxons. The words of twenty-six-year-old me, pouring forth my passionate love for MZB's words, remain untouched and unedited below.
The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Everyone seems to adore this book; even my librarian told me that this was a really good Arthurian tale! The Christian bashing was just a tad boring, or repetitive said as the atheist that I am. When I was browsing through 5-star reviews of this book to try and understand why exactly human beings love this trash, someone actually said ". Morgause is surprised—Morgaine's baby would inherit the crown before Gawain. Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. Here are a couple of topics that came up frequently: Feminism — If she was going for the feminist viewpoint, why are pretty much all the female characters unlikable and devious throughout the book? Some of them do come around, but it seems to make women generally seem either sneaky or annoying.
Let's not forget your nose, you may enjoy some aroma created by or also enjoyed by a truly bad person and you clearly would not want that! I couldn't understand both Arthur and Lancelot, and it made me wonder that sometimes the will of looking to the story from a female point of view erased or flattened the male perspective. Certainly, I'm not asking for a book to uphold a conservative Christian view of sex, where all of the characters improbably wait until they are married and never cheat on their spouses. Arthur, in the meantime, is taken to bed, barely awake, by a spirited Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar. I remember nothing of it. But I don't care. She sees the bodies of Gawain, Accolon, and Lancelot among the thousands. She's not just black or white, like any woman.
The novel was a best-seller upon its publication and remains popular to this day. However, the story really came together for me and I actually quite enjoyed the storytelling. A feast for us atheists, a banquet for feminists and a fantasy book that really makes me wonder why, in 2018, we still struggle with bad female characterization and stereotyped heroines. The book seems to be moving to a major resolution of the long-simmering conflict between paganism and Christianity. It follows the story of the women of Avalon, a land where the old Goddes is celebrated.
Curious, I clicked the links to work out why. Gwenhwyfar overhears this and runs away, embarrassed and despairing. But I don't care. Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar are both skeptical, but Arthur persuades them, and they all bed down together. I can't understand how MZB, who wrote such powerful lines and characters, that made me feel so understood, that represented repression and gender inequality with such a beautiful, compelling and empowering novel, could have also been the abuser of her daughter. It's like, somebody gets up, stares in the mirror and thinks about some complicated love web, goes downstairs, starts knitting, talks to an old woman who came in from the cold.
She also endeavors to pull the characters out of the romantic and toward post-modern psychological conflict. Arthur says he needs someone of his own descent. What a sap I am, and what a sap I'll be again the next time I read this. The moral grey area of this book is very wide. But she wasn't anything I really cared about. Marion Zimmer Bradley's best work. Viviane plans to save Avalon by annointing and training her niece, Morgaine, as her successor, manipulating the royal lineage to produce Arthur, a king who will embrace both pagan beliefs and Christianity, thus saving Avalon.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley: 9780345350497
Oh Goddess, come and do what you will! A lot of things irritated me about this book, but nothing more than the simple lack of a compelling narrative construction. I can't understand but i am so angry and this is never something to forgive just because her work spoke to me so much. Then I'll make sure to have her pretend to be a pious follower of Christ even though, in reality, an adulteress is not a pious follower of Christ and I'll have created a perfect epitome of all Christian women to show the world what nasty morons they are! However, this amount of blabbering about stupid, mean, cowardly priests did nothing to advance the plot. I loved reading about the history. The female characters are either contemptible or irritating, or both. Our last collaboration, Priestess of Avalon, surrounds the middle section of the previous book with the story of Helena the mother of Constantine. Quite the contrast from the crone-like Morgan Le Fay, whose only purpose is to destroy the kingdom of Camelot.
That suggested a further development of the mythos, and we proposed a new project, Lady of Avalon, which takes the characters through three incarnations; the first section being a continuation of the story line in The Forest House, while the third tells of the youth of Viviane and helps explain how she got that way. Arthur then brings up how he notices Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar looking at each other, and how Gwenhwyfar has no child. Reading up on Bradley it sounds like she was a practicing Pagan, so it would make sense that she might want to bring this discussion in, but it seemed quite repetitive after a while. Here's a good jumping-in point: Her Daughter: Her Son: I didn't like this novel before -- too much misandry, revisionism, contempt for the Arthurian mythos, creepy sexual content, etc. She develops deep and intriguing characters who change as the years pass.
