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Colavs9601 t1_jclhgno wrote

After doing this with Marion Bradley, the author of Mists Of Avalon, not anymore.

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Eeeegah t1_jclj791 wrote

You make it sound so sinister. Is there something terrible you discovered about her?

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Lord0fHats t1_jclwufw wrote

Bradley became infamous when her daughter accused her and her husband of sex abuse and molestation. This compounded darkly with Bradley's writing in Mists of Avalon, where sex was a big theme in the story (and not just sex, but incest as well as parental abuse). Prior to the scandal, the themes were light enough to be written off as part of the fantasy.

'Different time, different place, different moral scruples.'

After her daughter's accusations, it becomes hard not to know about the scandal and not see Mists as an expression of Bradley's outlook on sex. And given the accusation that outlook is most politely summed up as 'pretty damn fucked up.'

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WritingJedi t1_jclydbv wrote

Let's clarify this a little: she was married to Walter Breen, noted pedophile and high ranking member of NAMBLA. She most definitely was a pedophile as well.

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HeleneSedai t1_jcmsikx wrote

Also going to expand on u/writingjedi response below, Bradley's daughter claimed that she told her aunt what happened back when she was still a child. When the aunt was deposed during Walter Breen's case, the aunt brought up the daughter's claims about MZB, although the police didn't pursue it further. It's on record that the daughter made those claims years before she later made them public.

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WritingJedi t1_jcmuy7i wrote

Absolutely. I won't ever be able to return to Mists of Avalon. Not knowing that what's in it isn't supposed to be commentary. It's propaganda.

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DConstructed t1_jcnh0ca wrote

Her work IMO also started getting weirder. She definitely had a creepy side.

Which was a pity because I felt that some of her explorations into gender roles and non heterosexual relationships were a bit ahead of their time.

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Eeeegah t1_jcmbf4r wrote

I didn't know this and I can see how it colors the interpretation of Avalon.

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FallenJoe t1_jcm3qd9 wrote

Never look up the lives and opinions of most of the classic sci-fi and fantasy authors. They were an overwhelmingly shit group, it's like every person who was a terrible person fucked off to write sci-fi. Just read their books and be happily ignorant.

If someone starts a conversation about boycotting books due to the views of the author and a bunch of people start sidling for the exit, they're probably sci-fi fans.

Some of them were just incredibly fucked up as people. H.P. Lovecraft in particular was basically a walking bundle of neurosis, fear, and hatred of just about everyone and everything, with a special emphasis on Blacks, Irish, Italian, and Jews.

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aFairVeronesa t1_jcnh7ph wrote

I really hope my homie Le Guin didn't do anything much worse than use all male pronouns for the aliens in The Left Hand of Darkness.

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KiwiTheKitty t1_jcpeejp wrote

>Just read their books and be happily ignorant.

I mean it kind of leaks through into a lot of their books, doesn't it? I used to think I hated scifi because of how much sexism and racism was obvious in 20th century stuff (not all of it but a lot of it). Thankfully things are a lot better now!

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Lady_Chickens t1_jcp0d1s wrote

I came here to say exactly this. Love her books but could’ve lived my whole life without knowing about her personal life. Honestly, it made it harder to read her writing afterwards.

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Colavs9601 t1_jcp4yq7 wrote

I find it impossible now, except as a case study on why death of an author is bad. The sex content that deals with familial relations and underage no longer comes across as feminist commentary on the women’s place in classic fantasy, and more of her just writing about the sex stuff she endorses.

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Lady_Chickens t1_jcpcch7 wrote

I’ve not read Mists of Avalon and I refuse too after leaning about MZB’s personal life. I read most of the Darkover series before my mom mentioned her being problematic as a person. Mom’s a librarian who owns every single book MZB and her cohorts wrote. She loves them and frequently rereads both Darkover and Mists of Avalon. I understand that she can compartmentalize the books from the person but I can’t do it.

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HeleneSedai t1_jcmsmsc wrote

Also will add to that list, Piers Anthony and Orson Scott Card.

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