The Mists of Avalon (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: Perhaps the sixth century
- Setting: Britain and the legendary Holy Isle of Avalon
- Principal Characters: Morgaine, Viviane, Igraine, Uther Pendragon, Arthur, Gwenhwyfer
- Genres: Long fiction, Adventure, Fantasy, Arthurian romance
- Subjects: Magic or magicians, Mythology or myths, Incest, England or English people, Islands, Christianity, Kings, queens, or royalty, Legends, Gods or goddesses, Middle Ages, Sixth century, Great Britain, Knights or knighthood, Paganism, Celts, Druids and Druidism
- Locales: England, Avalon (mythic)
Form and Content
This imaginative retelling of the life and times of Britain’s legendary King Arthur consistently displaces the usual masculine focus on the trials and triumphs of the hero. The battlefield where men play their desperate games of life and death recedes to background information. The focus is on the personal experiences of the women who are ordinarily only peripheral to hero stories. Suddenly, the myth, even though tinged with mystery and magic, seems more real, more grounded in some kind of gritty truth about human nature and the trials of the soul—at least...
[The entire page is 2137 words long]
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