Thoughts on Reading 'The Mists of Avalon' for the first time

[brigdh]

1. I'm about 350 pages in, and currently very afraid that I'm in for another 500 pages of Gwen and Morgaine emo-ing about wanting to sleep with Lancelet. Intellectually, I know that at some point Modred must show up to be a plot point, but it does not feel like that. It feels like all that will ever happen EVER AGAIN is people whining about how pretty Lancelet is, and why doesn't he like meeeeee? Also, for something advertised as a feminist book, I feel like I should not be longing for male characters to show up so that something interesting will happen.

2. I also could do with a lot less of the obsessing over female virginity/hating on women who have sex.

3. Speaking of hating, why do all Arthurian legends hate the Saxons so very, very much? Well, at least all of the legends which mention the Saxons; I don't remember them being in Malory (or BBC's Merlin). It's not like the Saxons pillaged and raided more than anyone else at the time. I might be sensitive to Saxon-mistreatment, since I have a couple of friends who study them, but it still seems odd. Particularly since I feel that the "real" Arthur (I personally don't think there was one, but in terms of when the story started) was more likely to be a Saxon than one of the Roman-descended-and-influenced guys starring in most of the retellings I've read recently. (And definitely not the medieval guy of Malory. Okay, the story's most likely older than any of those choices, but I still feel Saxons are closer than Romans.) So why hate the Saxons? They brought you English! Shouldn't they get a little love for that?

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I hate to break it to you, but the first 350 pages are the interesting part.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I have a weird compunction to always finish books once I've started them, but I suspect I'm going to be very tempted to break that rule with this one.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

There will also be the blatant Yay Paganism!/Boo Christianity! to look forward to! Which gets a tiny bit better at the very end but overall felt skewed enough to annoy me mightily for most of the book, and I was actually pagan-leaning at the time I read it.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

The Yay Paganism! stuff doesn't bother me very much; I suppose since I expected it going in. It's so over-the-top that it just seems a bit silly and hard to take seriously.

[askeladden.livejournal.com]

I too am not a fan of the Mists of Avalon. I am, however, currently CARTing a class on the Arthurian Legends, and tonight they discussed Marie de France's Lai of Eliduc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliduc), which features some rather strongly implied dykery, or at the very least kinkery. Witness:


"When she entered the chapel
and saw the bed of the girl,
who resembled a new rose,
she uncovered her,
saw the body so slender,
the long arms and white hands,
slim fingers, long and smooth;
now she knew the truth,
the reason her lord had felt such grief.
She called the valet
and showed him the wonderful sight.
"Do you see," she said, "this woman
whose beauty resembles a jewel?
This is my lord's love
for whom he feels such grief.
By my faith, I'm not surprised,
if such a lovely woman has perished.
As much for pity as for love
I shall never have joy again."
She began to weep
and to mourn for the girl.


After some weirdness involving a mating pair of weasels (yeah), the beautiful young girl is resurrected, and the woman tells her husband that she will take the veil so that he can marry the girl. He happily complies and gives his erstwhile wife lots of money and land into the bargain. But then, after they live together blissfully for a few years, he becomes so pure and holy that he decides to join a monastery, and so he brings his sweet young thing to the very same convent mentioned previously, and the girl lives out the rest of her life with his ex-wife:

"With his first wife
he placed the wife whom he so cherished.
She received her as her sister
and gave her great honor;
she encouraged her to serve God
and instructed her in her order."

I bet she did, I bet she did.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous of you, getting to sit in on an Arthurian Legends class!

Also, thank you for sharing that. Mmmmmm, Arthuian femmeslash. I had actually expected 'The Mists of Avalon' to have some of that, but since it seems to be not happening, I am grateful to you for providing it.

[miep.livejournal.com]

but the best is Bisclavret! All hail the lai of the werewolf! ok, it's not strictly arthurian, but...

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I read the Mists of Avalon at the same time as a male friend who I had some kind of complex tension with. Once we were at work and out of nowhere (and in front of other people) he said (really thoughtfully) "You know, Arthur was really only Morgaine's HALF brother".

I started laughing really startledly/awkwardly and I think the other people present continued to be curious about wtf was going on with relationship with him anyway.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. That is, um, awesome. If a bit disturbing.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

If I'm being pragmatic, I'd say that the Saxons suffer from a) recency, and b) not going away. You've still got living cultures pissed at the folks who took a goodly chunk of their island, tried to kill their languages, etc., whereas the Romans had the good sense to do business and then go away.

And I'd been thinking of actually reading that book with intent to finish at some point...

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suppose. Though there's probably more English people of Anglo-Saxon heritage around today than Celtic and Roman peoples combined.

My friend the Anglo-Saxonist's theory is that the Saxons became equated symbolically with the Germans during WWs I and II, and thus got all the "protect our homeland!" stuff via osmosis.

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

I'd been considering reading that book, especially since somebody mentioned Arthur/Lancelot happened, but from the sound of it I'd probably not be very thrilled with it. People whining about relationships really isn't my idea of entertainment. -_- I think I'll stick to the BBC's ridiculous interpretation.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's sort of more Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot, and I would definitely not recommend it if that's what you're looking for. It's pretty subtle and not that big of a plot point. And also Guinevere (who is much more of the central character in the relationship than either of the two guys) is very whiny and spends a lot of time angsting over liking two guys, but almost no time doing anything about it.

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

Ah, I was thinking it was something that'd really throw a wrench in the traditional dynamic of Guinevere wants them both and everybody ends up unhappy, but it sounds very much like it doesn't. With whining and pining added, I don't think I could take it unless Guinevere was an extremely interesting character.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I haven't finished it yet (still have another 200 pages or so to go, oh my god, this book is never going to end), but I feel I can say pretty definitively that no one ends up happy. Also, I hate this Guinevere SO MUCH. I want to slap her. She is the most annoying character I have read in a long, long time.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

Don't be hating on my MZB!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee! Sorry! I did really want to like this book, but so far it's not working out for me. I don't think I've read anything else by her.