Reading the Chunksters discussion

Sadly it is now time to say farewell to Avalon. What are your thoughts on this final section, did anything shock you or strike you as particularly curious? How do you feel at how the story has come to an end? Have you changed your opinion on the characters and issues we have discussed previously? How well do you think Bradley managed to adapt a traditional tale into a feminist retelling, or did it fail to convince you?

On another note, I have the film on order and I thought it might be nice to open a thread discussing the film as an adaption. Anyone interested?

All in all I think that Bradley adapted the story rather well. I enjoyed reading it, and I did particularly like the way in which she saw things through Mograine's points of view, I liked the insights into her character. I thought that Bradley did a good job at focusing upon the women within the story, and the lives of women at that time, while still staying true to the original legend. She gave the story her point of view without drastically changing the story itself or the characters. There were only a couple of times in which it seemed like she was trying to force a feminist/modern agenda on the characters in a why which did not quite work for me and seemed too contrived and did not really make sense in the story on the whole.

One of the things which bothered me in the story, is the way in which Bradley had attempted to suggest the idea that Lancelet was in fact homosexual and his affair with Gwen was truly just a manifestation of his love for Arthur and he wanted to be with her as a way to being closer to Arther. While the idea in itself might be an interesting angle to take, considering she already had Lancelet fall in love with Gwen prior to Arther even knowing that Gwen existed and when she had no connection to him, that idea fall flat on its face and is a contradiction of other events which happened in the story.

I really did love this story. I really liked the point you, Silver, made earlier in another discussion about it being like a Greek tragedy. A large portion of the book did deal with fate and none of the heroes who died were able to escape it. Throughout the novel, Morgaine keeps repeating her thought - what of the King Stag when the young stag is grown. It is inevitable that King Arthur will die, being killed by his successor.

I, personally, did like the feminist take on the novel. Many classic tales like King Arthur's legends don't really focus on the women or they either polarize them into villains or angels. Bradley offered a view of the women that showed them as 3 dimensional characters and not just the typical representation. Morgaine is a far cry from the evil Morgan le Fay. I was mesmerized by the matriarchal Avalon religion and overall, completely sucked into the story.

I can see how Lancelet's homosexuality might not be convincing, but perhaps Bradley is suggesting a more fluid idea of sexuality that the binary between heterosexual and homosexual. I think Lancelet was interested in women and Gwen, but it is overshadowed by his love for his king. I would feel hesitant to simply label Lancelet as homosexual. I feel that he did have feelings for Gwen beyond the fact that he was Arthur's wife, though it may have increased those feelings. This is just how I feel though.

I'm definitely on board for discussing the movie adaptation!

Catherine wrote: "I can see how Lancelet's homosexuality might not be convincing, but perhaps Bradley is suggesting a more fluid idea of sexuality that the binary between heterosexual and homosexual.."

I think that while perhaps that is the idea which Bradley had intended to convey the way in which she introduced the idea was not very convincing and not very fluid with the rest of the story. There is a conversation between Lancelet and Morgaine in which Lancelet expresses his trepidation about the fact that he is uncertain about his own sexuality and he questions if his feelings for Gwen are truly for herself or an extension of his love for Arthur, and so she makes it seem like more of a homosexual issue which does not fit in.

It gave the impression as if she was either trying to do too much with the book at once, or as if she was suddenly like hey wouldn't it be interesting if Lancelet was homosexual or bisexual but than she just threw it in there without considering how it would jive with the rest of the story and not develop the idea enough, like it was just an afterthought to give the reader something else to think about.