The Mists of Avalon
2001; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/art.2001.0057
ISSN1934-1539
Autores Tópico(s)Early Modern Spanish Literature
ResumoREVIEWS of comparable import to a 'Castro reading' or an 'El Saffar reading'—figure among them. The author's insights are also put to good use in discussions on the evolution of the novel from early romance, with Cervantes exemplar as a fulcrum for that trajectory. Dudleys mastery of the Quixote enables him to recall the text in whole and in part, so that he is able to interpret the work fully as its own intcrtext. His production of many related articles furthers this capacity since, to name a few examples, he has studied the Quixote from the standpoints of genre, overall structure, and similar kinds ofepisodes. Moreover, Dudley's understanding ofthe central character is based on an inclusive knowledge, not only of Perceval and Lancelot or Amadis as models of knight errantry, but also on intelligent penetration of lesser-known texts from the Don's infamous library. The author's unique apprehension ofromance as proliferating cultural (and especially literary) impulse, like Mambrino's helmet, becomes the special armament ofhis interpretive quest achievement. Apart from Cervantes's masterwork itself, for intrepid scholars taking up the gauntlet of Bonnie Wheeler's challenge to 'read all the books that Don Quixote read,' Edward Dudley's The Endless Text may stand as the essential concordance. BARBARA D. MILLER Buffalo State College ULI edel, dir., The Mists ofAvalon. Four-hour miniseries. ATNT Presentation of a Matk Wolper Production. Turner Network Television. [Originally broadcast July 15 and 16] 2001. A student once commented—with more than a note ofcomplaint—that the Arthurian legend had been the genesis for some very long books. Think Malory. Think Spenser. Think Tennyson. Think Twain. Think White. Think Malamud. And, ofcourse, think Marion Zimmer Bradley. The legend has also been the genesis for some very long films. Think Logan (Camelot). Think Rohmer (Perceval le gallois). Think Romero (Knightriders). Think Syberberg (Parsifal). Think Barron (the Merlin miniseries). And, now, think Uli Edel. Bradley's massive The Mists ofAvalon certainly contains enough material for a film, and screenwriter Gavin Scott wisely does not claim, as did Boorman and his cowriter Rospo Pallenberg, that he will retell the entire story of his source, the brief against which is its length. The novel's critics think it is too, too long to begin with. So what we get from TNT spread over four hours is Bradley much condensed with great numbers ofsubplots and characters simply missing, yet at a pace that is at times mind numbingly slow. The male characters are, as in the novel, the bit players— reduced in the miniseries to being little more than Arthurian boy toys in Edward Atterton's Arthur, Michael Vartan's Lancelot, and Hans Matheson's Mordred. Stage center stand three women: Anjelica Huston's Viviane, Julianna Margulies's Morgaine, and Joan Allen's Morgause. Samantha Mathis's Gwenhwyfar continues the screen tradition of Arthur's queen as a marginalized character, though here she is marginalized by almost everyone, male and female. ARTHURIANA Huston and Allen seem at least to be having fun with their parts. Huston maintains a gyno-sacerdotal demeanor appropriate to the Lady ofthe Lake, and Allen plays the vamp as heavy in a throwback to an acting style that seems inspired by Theda Bara. Margulies, try as she might, simply lacks gravitas—her still-intact-television ER midwestern accent making an already tinny dialogue sound only worse. Present in the miniseries is the battle between pagan/feminine/nurturing and Christian/masculine/destructive, with the Saxons thrown in for good measure as enemies to all. The time frame is correct, and some of the costuming and sets are close enough, but overall a great deal oftalent, time, money, and effort seems to have been for naught. It is encouraging that interest in movies and telefilms set in some version of the Middle Ages continues (cf. this Summer's A Knight's Tale which, for all its anachronisms, is still a better reimagining of the medieval). One only wishes that this interest provided us with something better to watch—and to write about. KEVIN J. HARTY 1.a Salle University w. H. Jackson and s. a. ranawake, eds., The Arthur ofthe Germans. The Arthurian Legendin...
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