The Myth of Morgan la Fey [Hardcover]

The sister of King Arthur goes by many names: sorceress, kingmaker, death-wielder, mother, lover, goddess. The Myth of Morgan la Fey reveals her true identity through a comprehensive investigation of the famed enchantress' evolution - or devolution - over the past millennium and its implications for gender relations today.Introduction Final Girl: The Once and Future Goddess 1. How to Handle a Woman: Perversion or Psychosis? 2. Courtly Masochism 3. Monstrous Mothers: Morgan la Fey and M?lusine 4. Divine Mothers: Morgan, the Dame du Lac, and the Virgin Mary 5. What do Women Want? Gawain and Freud 6. Fals lustes : Malory's Mistresses 7. Follow Me: Beguiling the Victorians 8. If Ever I Would Leave You: Morgan in the Modern Era

This fascinating and readable book traces the figure of Morgan la Fey from her origins in Irish Sovereignty legends via her development in medieval Arthurian romances through to her representation in modern popular culture, showing how the fairy serves as a focus for deep-seated anxieties about women and the feminine. This book draws authoritatively on many disciplines to throw new light on our ideas about love, power, and motherhood even today. Most importantly, it shows how many aspects of modern culture which we take for granted have their roots deep in Celtic mythology and its medieval elaboration. This book is recommended for anyone interested in the ethics of gender, the development of ideas about women and the feminine, and the long history of the Arthurian legends. - Sarah Kay, Professor of French, New York University, USA

P?rez hits all the right notes in her work on Morgan la Fey and she does so with an irresistibly light touch. She understands the Celtic origins and the French and English versions in which the story has come down to us and she brings to bear on the material a balanced feminist reading plus a rich understanding of the complexity of the character. P?rez has all the scholarly apparatus down andl“"