"Why have I never been like other girls?" wonders Guenevere, the
heroine of Rosalind Miles' most recent rehashing of the Arthurian
legend. Perhaps Guenevere is different because she lives in a world
that is pure fantasy to us, a world where women are the rulers.
GUENEVERE, QUEEN OF THE SUMMER COUNTRY, offers up the same tale
that we have read repeatedly in GAWAIN, THE GREEN KNIGHT. Unlike
most accounts of this age-old tale, however, Miles makes this
completely Guenevere's story, describing life with Arthur and
Lancelot from her point of view. It falls just short of a
convincingly pointed feminist portrayal of one of the legend's most
notable female figures.

The book opens with Arthur, son of the evil Uther Pendragon,
traveling with his army to take back the Middle Kingdom. Led by
Merlin, the shapeshifting sorcerer who knows Arthur's destiny and
strives to make it a reality, the army finds its way to the Summer
Country, the land where Guenevere has just been made Queen after
the tragic loss of her mother. The young queen is trying to defend
the land she loves, although she feels inadequately prepared for
the job. During the elegant burial of her mother's body, she
receives word that Arthur's forces are on their way. So starts the
magical romance that brings Arthur and Guenevere together to join
their states in the Kingdom of Camelot. But, as Merlin had warned
Arthur, this union would not result in anything but sadness and
tragedy. Arthur and Guenevere plunge ahead into their love,
regardless of the advice. And, as we all know, things don't work
out very well.

The story is as complex and compelling as a good old American soap
opera, although the time period and the fantastical elements make
it more TWIN PEAKS than DYNASTY. Merlin, Arthur and our heroine,
Guenevere, are completely fleshed out --- certainly, their scheming
and scamming keeps us on the edge of our seats as we await the
inevitable outcome. That's another bright spot in this account: I
frequently found myself hoping for an ending I realized would never
come true. When you momentarily forget such a well-known plot, you
know you're getting a different perspective.

The one element that detracts from the story is Miles' overly
flowery language. While this is a story set in medieval England, it
does not mean that we need long passages about the vomitous
lustfulness and violent abandon with which the cohorts of the King
and Queen go about their duties? Must everyone speak in this
extended, annoying, ancient mode to express themselves? Since the
point of the story is that Guenevere suffers from the same
insecurities and desires that the book's contemporary readers do,
shouldn't there be an attempt to tell this story in simple, elegant
English that doesn't require rereading from paragraph to paragraph?
I would have been more engrossed in this tale if only the
characters had spoken in a simpler manner. I've read Chaucer, but
this isn't Chaucer, nor does it need to reflect that language in
order to give us an in-depth feeling for the times in which this
story takes place.

Trying to defend the sexually and intellectually liberal land in
which she was raised, Guenevere faces many fearful situations. The
idea of a Motherland where women had the upper hand is still one
for the storybooks. So, the impact of this long-standing myth is
much more intense when examined from a feminist perspective. The
fact that Guenevere gives up her work for a great and passionate
love which ultimately undoes all she and Arthur have built together
makes this seem like a Lifetime made-for-TV movie, where a woman's
emotional desires are the most important ones to be fulfilled.
Certainly, contemporary readers, men as well as women, can
recognize many parallels between their struggles and the morality
and mores of their medieval counterparts. In this sense, the legend
is worth telling over and over again.  

Ultimately, I'll always wish that Guenevere could maintain
sovereignty and win love simultaneously. Unfortunately, the idea of
having it all is as much a fantasy here as it is in our real
lives.