"Genuine fairy-story" ?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Indeed in Mists of Avalon, an important book for modern Pagans, the only descent we see is the 'descent' to Christianity which takes the power away from the Land, the Britons (or Brythons if you prefer, having noted this term when I was reading about the long lost Cumric language yesterday) and from women. But I wouldn't expect you to be kind about this work as Zimmer Bradley's not all that kind to Christians. Gwynhwyfwr (can't remember the spelling) is a bit of a caricature TBH, but hey, so are 'heathens' in Christian Arts. Is it all 'redressing the balance' or just having a go back? You decide.

Interesting that you should bring up Zimmer Bradley's depiction of her POV in Mists of Avalon. (I had to defend my ownership of it when I sat reading it at a yard sale one spring and someone insisted I had to sell it!) I have tried several times to get throught it but the ideology just seems too obvious. Okay, I get it, I get! I don't like being kicked in the head over something multiple times. This is the same reason I have never cottoned to Narnia--the allegorising is just too obvious. Oh please, give me a chance to suss something out for myself.

This is why I think Tolkien is so popular and successful among many persuasions. It's Tolkien who has the 'subtle leaf', as opposed to, say, Pullman's 'unsubtle knife' as well.

Although whether subtlty is an aspect of Fairy Tale . . . .