Book Review: Priestess of Avalon
written by Marion Zimmer Bradley
and Diana L. Paxson
Review by Martin L. Cahn
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Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon is perhaps one of the most popular retellings of the Arthurian legends in the past 20 years. It is epic, sweeping, full of decidedly different takes on the characters of Arthur, Gwynefahr, Lancelet, Morgaine, Merlin, and all the rest, and dotted with bona fide magic from time to time.
Before her death in 1999, MZB, as she was -- and is -- commonly referred to, worked with fellow Camelot author Diana L. Paxson. Several years ago, she (uncredited) helped Bradley write a prequel to Mists called Lady of Avalon. In 1999, MZB and Paxson were working again on another prequel taking place hundreds of years before the events surrounding King Arthur that would become Priestess of Avalon.
[Note: The first two thirds of "Lady of Avalon" apparently take place prior to the events in Priestess, while the remaining third of that book takes place either along side, or after, the events of the later work.]
The book was released earlier this year, and publisher PenguinPutnam asked Demensions to review Priestess of Avalon following the airing of the "Mists of Avalon" on the TNT cable network. Ironically, PenguinPutnam is not the publisher of the original book.
In her acknowledgements to the book, Paxson writes: "Marion Zimmer Bradley and I began this work together, as we worked together before, but it was left to me to complete it." She then writes: "In the creation of this book, Marion's was the inspiration and origin. The historical legwork was mine."
While that doesn't quite explain who actually wrote the book -- did both of them contribute actual narration, or did MZB merely provide the framework and Paxson is the true author? -- it does point to why readers will find very little commonality between this tale and the original.
Priestess of Avalon fictionalizes the life of a real historical figure: Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great who founded Constantinople in the early 4th Century. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Helena lived at least 80 years, possibly longer, with her death marked around the year 330 A.D. Three items distinguish accepted historical facts about Helena's life from the way she is portrayed by Bradley and Paxson.
First, although some early historians (and I'm talking hundreds of years ago) claimed that Helena was from Britain, most modern historians believe that was a misinterpretation of where her son, Constantine was born. The Encyclopedia, on the other hand, sets Helena's origins on the Nicomedian Gulf (between the Mediterranean Sea and what is now known as the Black Sea), possibly in the town of Drepanum. MZP and Paxson, however, decide to play up the early myths, and put her growing up in the British village of Camulodunum (now Colchester) northeast of London near the North Sea.
(By the way, despite the name, Camulodunum is not one of those places where Camelot is thought to have been.)
Secondly, they actually take this a step further, making Helena, who they say was born "Eilan," as having actually been born on Avalon to the current Lady and a British prince, and merely spent her early years in Comulodunum before starting her training as a priestess on Avalon when she is perhaps 13 years old, maybe younger. She leaves several years later, under circumstances I'll describe later, and only returns at the end of her life.
That opens up the way for the third difference between reality and fiction. Where historians (especially Catholic and other Christian ones) express certainty regarding Eilan/Helena's devoutness to God, Bradley and Paxson portray her as treating Christianity -- even supporting it -- as merely an extension of the "religion" she learns on Avalon.
With this background out of the way, what is Priestess of Avalon like?
Unlike Mists of Avalon, which used only sporadic narration by Morgaine, all but the preface showing Eilan's birth is written in the first person. This makes the novel a much more personal tale than the grand tale MZB told of Camelot on her own in 1983. The reader is actually treated to a life-long, fictional autobiography of a fascinating woman who held the promise of Avalon's magic in her hands and gave it away for the love of a Roman soldier.
Magic fills the first part of the tale, with Eilan's introduction to her aunt Ganeda, the current Lady of Avalon (Eilan's mother died giving birth to her). Many of the trappings of Avalon revealed in the first book are here, including the "breeding stock" machinations of the Priestesses and Druids to try to produce a "child of prophecy." In the same way that Arthur's (and Modred's) birth backfired on the later inhabitants of Avalon, so does Eilan's decision to defy Ganeda when the man she falls in love with is deemed destined for another of the Avalon initiates.
She conspires, with her friend's consent, to switch places at Beltane (the Druidic fertility festival) so that they can be together. In addition to being in love with the soldier, Constantius, Eilan also thinks she will give birth to the child Avalon seeks to create.
In true MZB tradition, Eilan not only loses the child, but is exiled from Avalon. It is only years later, after losing at least one other child, that she finally gives birth to Constantine. As the novel progresses, so do Helena (who takes that name after her exile), her consort (they never marry, in the modern sense of the term), and, later, their child. The couple move all over the Roman Empire as Constantius slowly rises to power through the ranks under several emperors and ceasars. Helena's status rises throughout the novel, as well, ultimately being deemed a Saint for what are historically accurate reasons. Their son, Constantine, of course, follows his father in power and becomes the sole Roman Emperor, eventually founding Constantinople.
Helena's tale is as much one of loss, however, as one of gained status and power. In order to gain his rise to power, Constantius leaves Helena to marry into royalty. They are separated for many years until, near his death, they are reunited in order for Helena to gently aid his passage to the afterlife. Helena and Constantine are separated many times, sometimes due to politics, sometimes due to religious differences, and sometimes due to Constantine's lust for power.
The greatest losses are those dealing with family and Helena suffers greatly when, true to historical accounts, Constantine has his own son, Crispus, murdered.
Throughout this long stage of Helena's life, she maintains some contact with the Avalon Mysteries, although not in the sense Mists of Avalon readers would recognize. As her life unfolds, Helena comes across what she considers to be "incarnations" of the Mother Goddess in the form of some of the Roman, and other, gods and even the Virgin Mary. There are times where her connection to the natural magic of the world allow her to act as an oracle for some, a healer for others, and in her Christian cycle, the discoverer of holy relics and places.
These magical connections are less fantasy and more spiritual in Priestess than as they are described in "Mists." While they provide the basis of the "fantasy" category for this book, Priestess of Avalon really reads more like a piece of alternate history.
Nonetheless, it is, perhaps, a more satisfying reading experience for many precisely because of its more personal nature, with Helena's narration of her life story. It's also a more satisfying read because most of us have never really studied Helena and her times before. The 3rd and 4th centuries are mistakenly seen as part of the Dark Ages; that age didn't begin for almost another hundred years. So, readers are treated to a time after the founding of Christianity, but before the fall of the Roman Empire.
And they are treated to that time in the form of a person who may become another of the more fascinating, fictionalized women of history. For Helena's story never truly drags and yet never becomes too melodramatic. Indeed, it is a treat and one that we can thank the late Marion Zimmer Bradley and her partner, Diana L. Paxson, for preparing for us.
There are rumors that yet another unfinished Avalon manuscript may be completed and released. One can only hope that, if true, it will be as focused and as engaging a tale as that of Eilan -- Saint Helena, of Avalon.
Before her death in 1999, MZB, as she was -- and is -- commonly referred to, worked with fellow Camelot author Diana L. Paxson. Several years ago, she (uncredited) helped Bradley write a prequel to Mists called Lady of Avalon. In 1999, MZB and Paxson were working again on another prequel taking place hundreds of years before the events surrounding King Arthur that would become Priestess of Avalon.
[Note: The first two thirds of "Lady of Avalon" apparently take place prior to the events in Priestess, while the remaining third of that book takes place either along side, or after, the events of the later work.]
The book was released earlier this year, and publisher PenguinPutnam asked Demensions to review Priestess of Avalon following the airing of the "Mists of Avalon" on the TNT cable network. Ironically, PenguinPutnam is not the publisher of the original book.
In her acknowledgements to the book, Paxson writes: "Marion Zimmer Bradley and I began this work together, as we worked together before, but it was left to me to complete it." She then writes: "In the creation of this book, Marion's was the inspiration and origin. The historical legwork was mine."
While that doesn't quite explain who actually wrote the book -- did both of them contribute actual narration, or did MZB merely provide the framework and Paxson is the true author? -- it does point to why readers will find very little commonality between this tale and the original.
Priestess of Avalon fictionalizes the life of a real historical figure: Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great who founded Constantinople in the early 4th Century. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Helena lived at least 80 years, possibly longer, with her death marked around the year 330 A.D. Three items distinguish accepted historical facts about Helena's life from the way she is portrayed by Bradley and Paxson.
First, although some early historians (and I'm talking hundreds of years ago) claimed that Helena was from Britain, most modern historians believe that was a misinterpretation of where her son, Constantine was born. The Encyclopedia, on the other hand, sets Helena's origins on the Nicomedian Gulf (between the Mediterranean Sea and what is now known as the Black Sea), possibly in the town of Drepanum. MZP and Paxson, however, decide to play up the early myths, and put her growing up in the British village of Camulodunum (now Colchester) northeast of London near the North Sea.
(By the way, despite the name, Camulodunum is not one of those places where Camelot is thought to have been.)
Secondly, they actually take this a step further, making Helena, who they say was born "Eilan," as having actually been born on Avalon to the current Lady and a British prince, and merely spent her early years in Comulodunum before starting her training as a priestess on Avalon when she is perhaps 13 years old, maybe younger. She leaves several years later, under circumstances I'll describe later, and only returns at the end of her life.
That opens up the way for the third difference between reality and fiction. Where historians (especially Catholic and other Christian ones) express certainty regarding Eilan/Helena's devoutness to God, Bradley and Paxson portray her as treating Christianity -- even supporting it -- as merely an extension of the "religion" she learns on Avalon.
With this background out of the way, what is Priestess of Avalon like?
Unlike Mists of Avalon, which used only sporadic narration by Morgaine, all but the preface showing Eilan's birth is written in the first person. This makes the novel a much more personal tale than the grand tale MZB told of Camelot on her own in 1983. The reader is actually treated to a life-long, fictional autobiography of a fascinating woman who held the promise of Avalon's magic in her hands and gave it away for the love of a Roman soldier.
Magic fills the first part of the tale, with Eilan's introduction to her aunt Ganeda, the current Lady of Avalon (Eilan's mother died giving birth to her). Many of the trappings of Avalon revealed in the first book are here, including the "breeding stock" machinations of the Priestesses and Druids to try to produce a "child of prophecy." In the same way that Arthur's (and Modred's) birth backfired on the later inhabitants of Avalon, so does Eilan's decision to defy Ganeda when the man she falls in love with is deemed destined for another of the Avalon initiates.
She conspires, with her friend's consent, to switch places at Beltane (the Druidic fertility festival) so that they can be together. In addition to being in love with the soldier, Constantius, Eilan also thinks she will give birth to the child Avalon seeks to create.
In true MZB tradition, Eilan not only loses the child, but is exiled from Avalon. It is only years later, after losing at least one other child, that she finally gives birth to Constantine. As the novel progresses, so do Helena (who takes that name after her exile), her consort (they never marry, in the modern sense of the term), and, later, their child. The couple move all over the Roman Empire as Constantius slowly rises to power through the ranks under several emperors and ceasars. Helena's status rises throughout the novel, as well, ultimately being deemed a Saint for what are historically accurate reasons. Their son, Constantine, of course, follows his father in power and becomes the sole Roman Emperor, eventually founding Constantinople.
Helena's tale is as much one of loss, however, as one of gained status and power. In order to gain his rise to power, Constantius leaves Helena to marry into royalty. They are separated for many years until, near his death, they are reunited in order for Helena to gently aid his passage to the afterlife. Helena and Constantine are separated many times, sometimes due to politics, sometimes due to religious differences, and sometimes due to Constantine's lust for power.
The greatest losses are those dealing with family and Helena suffers greatly when, true to historical accounts, Constantine has his own son, Crispus, murdered.
Throughout this long stage of Helena's life, she maintains some contact with the Avalon Mysteries, although not in the sense Mists of Avalon readers would recognize. As her life unfolds, Helena comes across what she considers to be "incarnations" of the Mother Goddess in the form of some of the Roman, and other, gods and even the Virgin Mary. There are times where her connection to the natural magic of the world allow her to act as an oracle for some, a healer for others, and in her Christian cycle, the discoverer of holy relics and places.
These magical connections are less fantasy and more spiritual in Priestess than as they are described in "Mists." While they provide the basis of the "fantasy" category for this book, Priestess of Avalon really reads more like a piece of alternate history.
Nonetheless, it is, perhaps, a more satisfying reading experience for many precisely because of its more personal nature, with Helena's narration of her life story. It's also a more satisfying read because most of us have never really studied Helena and her times before. The 3rd and 4th centuries are mistakenly seen as part of the Dark Ages; that age didn't begin for almost another hundred years. So, readers are treated to a time after the founding of Christianity, but before the fall of the Roman Empire.
And they are treated to that time in the form of a person who may become another of the more fascinating, fictionalized women of history. For Helena's story never truly drags and yet never becomes too melodramatic. Indeed, it is a treat and one that we can thank the late Marion Zimmer Bradley and her partner, Diana L. Paxson, for preparing for us.
There are rumors that yet another unfinished Avalon manuscript may be completed and released. One can only hope that, if true, it will be as focused and as engaging a tale as that of Eilan -- Saint Helena, of Avalon.
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