King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan And Her Sisters In Arthurian Tradition
by Carolyne Larrington /
2006 / English / PDF
10.7 MB Download
King Arthur: the very name summons visions of courtly chivalry
and towering castles, of windswept battlefields and heroic
quests, and above all of the monarch who dies but who one day
shall return again. The Arthurian legend lives on as
powerfully and enduringly as ever. Yet there is an aspect to
this myth which has been neglected, but which is perhaps its
most potent part of all. For central to the Arthurian
stories are the mysterious, sexually alluring enchantresses,
those spellcasters and mistresses of magic who wield
extraordinary influence over Arthur's life and destiny,
bestriding the Camelot mythology with a dark, brooding
presence. Echoing the search for the Grail, Carolyne Larrington
takes her readers on a quest of her own - to discover why these
dangerous women continue to bewitch us. Her journey takes
in the enchantresses as they appear in poetry and painting, on
the Internet and TV, in high culture and popular culture.
She shows that whether they be chaste or depraved,
necrophiliacs or virgins, the Arthurian enchantresses are
manifestations of the feared, uncontainable Other, frightening
and fascinating in equal measure.
King Arthur: the very name summons visions of courtly chivalry
and towering castles, of windswept battlefields and heroic
quests, and above all of the monarch who dies but who one day
shall return again. The Arthurian legend lives on as
powerfully and enduringly as ever. Yet there is an aspect to
this myth which has been neglected, but which is perhaps its
most potent part of all. For central to the Arthurian
stories are the mysterious, sexually alluring enchantresses,
those spellcasters and mistresses of magic who wield
extraordinary influence over Arthur's life and destiny,
bestriding the Camelot mythology with a dark, brooding
presence. Echoing the search for the Grail, Carolyne Larrington
takes her readers on a quest of her own - to discover why these
dangerous women continue to bewitch us. Her journey takes
in the enchantresses as they appear in poetry and painting, on
the Internet and TV, in high culture and popular culture.
She shows that whether they be chaste or depraved,
necrophiliacs or virgins, the Arthurian enchantresses are
manifestations of the feared, uncontainable Other, frightening
and fascinating in equal measure.
