Book Description
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.
