Rewriting the Women of Camelot: Arthurian Popular Fiction and Feminism
In this work, Howey’s mission is to “[examine] the intersection of popular fiction and feminism, using popular rewritings of the Arthurian legend as sample texts.” She focuses primarily on the works of four authors: Mary Stewart, Gillian Bradshaw, Fay Sampson, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. It is possible to read and benefit from this book without having read all of these works, as Howey’s points are often illustrated with relevant quotes and/or descriptions of the event or scene in the novels to which she is referring.
Howey takes standard literary analysis techniques and applies them to the works of the four authors, using feminism as a focus. At times this works well and is illuminating, for example the various interpretations of Morgan and their possible meanings. Other times she seems to be stretching to make a point, and the results can be unsatisfactory. In particular I found the discussion of the binary system of good vs. evil and its patriarchal antecedents particularly unconvincing; however, I should make it clear that I’m not a feminist scholar. I did enjoy the work overall, and by examining the portrayals of the women of Camelot through the filter of feminism it fills a previously bare niche in explorations of Arthurian literature, not an easy task.
