THE MISTS OF AVALON

by Marion Zimmer Bradley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1982

In this 858-page mammoth about the supplanting of Earth Mother religion by male-dominated Christianity through the reign of King Arthur, the folks at Camelot talk-alot, and tediously: only Bradley's inventive jugglings of the ever-flexible Arthurian personnae--and a few magic spectacles--offer oases of vitality. Morgan le Fay (here Morgaine), traditionally Arthur's sister the sorceress, is here a priestess of Avalon (seat of the Great Goddess) who sometimes travels out of body and out of time to penetrate the eerie mists of Avalon--an isle of green lawns, gliding swans, and harp music that's just a dimension away from the ""real world"" of ancient Briton. (The child Morgaine came to Avalon with her aunt Viviane, Lady of the Lake, sister of Morgaine's mother Igraine, who conceived Arthur by King Uther Pendragon--a mating forecast when their souls were joined in other worlds.) And now Morgaine has mating orders from the Goddess: as virgin bride of the Consort of the Great Mother, Morgaine is ritually impregnated by a stranger chosen to reenact the Marriage to the Land. But who does the Consort turn out to be? Brother Arthur! Both siblings are horrified, of course, so Morgaine leaves Avalon to bear Mordred (whom she abandons to fostering)--and to confront the niggling, dreary priests of a rapidly Christianizing Briton, amid clashes of Saxon warfare. Meanwhile, Arthur is King, fair and good; but he is persuaded by his Queen--beautiful, flawed, pious Christian Gwenhwyfar--to carry only the Cross in battle, to discard the Pendragon banner which represents the Druids, Old People, and Tribes loyal to the Goddess. And thus the King breaks his oath of loyalty given at Avalon (where he received the sword Excalibur)--which results in mystic battles in the ether. There are dramatic deaths; the usual love tangle (though this time Lancelet even wonders if he feels that way about Arthur); odd unions, sightings, and incantations; a culminating vision of the Holy Grail (really the cauldron of Ceriden). And Bradley makes some enterprising use of anthropological conjecture. But the endless talk is often more Mommy than Great Mother (""Make sure he's kept quiet. . . nothing solid for a day or two"")--and ultimately this astral, theological approach to Arthur, if nicely misty in spots, is mainly drizzle; more, in fact, for devotees of Druidical fantasy than Arthurian drama.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1982

Categories: FICTION