Showing posts with label Literary Criticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literary Criticism. Show all posts

March 30, 2007

Through Lover's Lane: L.M. Montgomery's Photography and Visual Imagination

Through Lover's Lane: L.M. Montgomery's Photography and Visual Imagination by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

Through Lover's Lane: L.M. Montgomery's Photography and Visual Imagination by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2007. In this book, Elizabeth Rollins Epperly examines L.M. Montgomery's photographs and draws connections between Montgomery's interest in photography and the compelling visual imagery in her writing.

Here is the description of the book:

It might surprise some to know that internationally beloved Canadian writer L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942), author of the Anne of Green Gables series, among other novels, and hundreds of short stories and poems, also held a passion for photography. For forty years, Montgomery photographed her favourite places and people, using many of these photographs to illustrate the hand-written journals she left as a record of her life. Artistically inclined, and possessing a strong visual memory, Montgomery created scenes and settings in her fiction that are closely linked to the carefully composed shapes in her photographs.

Elizabeth Rollins Epperly's Through Lover's Lane is the first book to examine Montgomery's photography in any depth; it is also the first study to connect it with her fiction and other writing. Drawing on the work of Montgomery scholars, as well as theorists such as Susan Sontag, Gaston Bachelard, Roland Barthes, John Berger, and George Lakoff, Epperly connects Montgomery's practice of photography with the writer's metaphors for home and belonging. Epperly examines thirty-five of the photographs, uncovering their role in the novelist's life and fiction. She argues that the shapes in Montgomery's favourite place in natureLover's Lane in Cavendish, P.E.I.affected her other photographs, underpinned her colourful descriptions, and grounded her aesthetics. Through Lover's Lane demonstrates how an artist creates metaphors that resonate within a single work, echo across a lifetime of writing and photography, and inspire readers and viewers across cultures and time.


The book includes the following contents:

Acknowledgments
Permissions
Abbreviations

Introduction: Seeing Patterns
1 Montgomery's Visual Imagination
2 Montgomery's Photography
3 Picturing a Life: Selected Photographs
4 Picturing Home: Image as Threshold
5 Anne's Green Arches
6 Emily's 'Memory Pictures'
7 'My Castle in Spain': The Blue Castle and the Architecture of Images
8 Afterimage: Around the 'Bend in the Road"

Appendix: 'Cynthia's' 1902 Article on Photography
Notes
Works Cited
Illustration Credits
Index

ISBN-13: 978-0802094605


Image credit:
Book cover of Through Lover's Lane: L.M. Montgomery's Photography and Visual Imagination.

Purchase and read Through Lover's Lane: L.M. Montgomery's Photography and Visual Imagination:

Through Lover's Lane: L.M. Montgomery's Photography and Visual Imagination by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

Created March 30, 2007. Last updated December 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

March 30, 2005

The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery

The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery edited by Irene Gammel

The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery was edited by Irene Gammel and published by the University of Toronto Press in March 2005. This book contains a collection of 11 essays that delve into L.M. Montgomery's personal writings, artistic expression, and correspondence to gain a better understanding of the mysterious author.

Here is the description of the volume from the University of Toronto Press:

Who ultimately is L.M. Montgomery, and why was there such an obsession with secrecy, hiding, and encoding in her life and fiction? Delving into the hidden life of Canada's most enigmatic writer, The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery answers these questions. The eleven essays illuminate Montgomery's personal writings and photographic self-portraits and probe the ways in which she actively shaped her life as a work of art. This is the first book to investigate Montgomery's personal writings, which filled thousands of pages in journals and a memoir, correspondence, scrapbooks, and photography.

Using theories of autobiography and life writing, the essays probe the author's flair for the dramatic and her exuberance in costuming, while also exploring the personal facts behind some of her fiction, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables. Focussing on topics such as sexuality, depression, marriage, aging, illness, and writing, the essays strip away the layers of art and artifice that disguised Montgomery's most intensely guarded secrets, including details of her affair with Herman Leard, her marriage with Ewen Macdonald, and her friendships with Nora Lefurgey and Isabel Anderson. The book also includes rare photographs taken by Montgomery and others, many of which have not previously appeared in print.

One of the highlights of The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery is the inclusion of a secret diary that Montgomery wrote with Lefurgey in 1903. This hilarious document is a rare find, for Montgomery's teasing banter presents us with a new voice that is distinct from the sombre tone of her journals. Published here for the first time, more than 100 years after its composition, this diary is virtually unknown to readers and scholars and is a welcome addition to the literature on this important figure.

This volume fills in many of the blanks surrounding Montgomery's personal life. Engaging and erudite, it is a boon for scholars and Montgomery fans alike.


Reviews (see additional reviews)

"Portrait of the artist as a young lady... Gammel and her fellow contributors point out that Montgomery continually revised her life story in her journals, omitting key events and rewriting others... Discerning the true feelings of ‘Canada’s most enigmatic literary icon,’ it turns out, is no easy task."
Maclean’s Magazine

"This is a groundbreaking, first-rate collection of particular interest to scholars of life writing and the history of women in Canada."
— Heidi Macdonald, The Canadian Historical Review


The book includes the following content and essays:

Introduction: Life Writing as Masquerade: The Many Faces of L.M. Montgomery by Irene Gammel

Part 1: Staging the Bad Girl

1. '...where has my yellow garter gone?' The Diary of L.M. Montgomery and Nora Lefurgey edited, annotated, and illustrated by Irene Gammel
2. The 'Secret' Diary of Maud Montgomery, Aged 28¼ by Jennifer H. Litster
3. Nora, Maud, and Isabel: Summoning Voices in Diaries and Memories by Mary Beth Cavert

Part 2: Confessions and Body Writing

4. 'I loved Herman Leard madly': L.M. Montgomery's Confession of Desire by Irene Gammel
5. Veils and Gaps: The Private Worlds of Amy Andrew and L.M. Montgomery, 1910-1914 by Mary McDonald-Rissanen
6. '...the refuge of my sick spirit...': L.M. Montgomery and the Shadows of Depression by Janice Fiamengo

Part 3: Writing for an Intimate Audience

7. Visual Drama: Capturing Life in L.M. Montgomery's Scrapbooks by Elizabeth R. Epperly
8. 'I hear what you say': Soundings in L.M. Montgomery's Life Writings by Joy Alexander
9. Epistolary Performance: Writing Mr Weber by Paul Tiessen and Hildi Froese Tiessen

Part 4: Where Life Writing Meets Fiction

10. 'See my Journal for the full story': Fictions of Truth in Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery's Journals by Cecily Devereux
11. The Hectic Flush: The Fiction and Reality of Consumption in L.M. Montgomery's Life by Melissa Prycer
12. Untangling the Web: L.M. Montgomery's Later Journals and Fiction, 1929-1939 by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston.


Image credit:

Book cover of The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery.

Purchase and read The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery:

The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery edited by Irene Gammel

Created March 30, 2005. Last updated August 14, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

September 10, 2002

Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture

Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture edited by Irene Gammel

Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture was edited by Irene Gammel and published by the University of Toronto Press in August 2002. This volume contains a collection of essays, many of which were presented as papers at the 4th Biennial Conference on L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture held by the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island in 2000. The articles examine the various ways that L.M. Montgomery's works and characters, such as Anne Shirley, have become an enduring cultural phenomenon.

Here is the description of the volume from the University of Toronto Press:

Since the publication of Anne of Green Gables in 1908, L.M. Montgomery and the world of Anne have propelled themselves into a global cultural phenomenon, popular not only in Canada, but in places as diverse as Japan, the United States, and Iran. Making Avonlea, the first study to focus on Montgomery and her characters as popular cultural icons, brings together twenty-three scholars from around the world to examine Montgomery's work, its place in our imagination, and more specifically its myriad spin-offs including musicals, films, television series, t-shirts, dolls, and a tourist industry.

Invoking theories of popular culture, film, literature, drama, and tourism, the essayists probe the emotional attachment and loyalty of many generations of mostly female readers to Montgomery's books while similarly scrutinizing the fierce controversies that surround these books and their author's legacy in Canada. Twenty-five illustrations of theatre and film stills, artwork, and popular cultural artefacts, as well as snapshot pieces featuring personal reflections on Montgomery's novels, are interwoven with scholarly essays to provide a complete picture of the Montgomery cultural phenomenon. Mythopoetics, erotic romance, and visual imagination are subjects of discussion, as is the commercial success of various television series and movies, musicals, and plays based on the Anne books. Scholars are equally concerned with the challenges and disputes that surround the translation of Montgomery's work from print to screen as well as the growth of tourist sites and websites that have themselves moved Avonlea into new cultural landscapes. Making Avonlea allows the reader to travel to these sites and to consider Canada's most enduring literary figures and celebrity author in light of their status as international icons almost one hundred years after they first arrived on the scene.


Reviews

'Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture is an impressive book ... The significance and importance of its attempt to trace the impact of Anne of Green Gables on popular culture can neither be underestimated nor minimized, and its scope - from novel, to film, to television, to theatre - is extraordinary. The project Gammel has undertaken is ambitious, and the book lives up to its promise ... [It] is a text that will appeal to general readers, cultural studies critics, women's studies specialists, Canadian literature scholars, theorists of popular culture, among many others. Its potential audience is large, and its subject matter provocative, timely, and compelling.'
Priscilla Walton, Department of English, Carleton University

'This is an outstanding book that breaks new ground in gender studies, popular culture studies, and children's literature. The collected essays focus on a fascinating range of topics, including Anne of Green Gable dolls, Anne clubs in Japan, Anne of Green Gables on the Internet, and Anne of Green Gables' house. Due to its unique focus on Anne of Green Gables and popular culture, anyone could find something of interest in this work. It is a ground-breaking book, one of the most important studies on Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery to be published in years.'
Sherrie Inness, Department of English, Miami University, Ohio


The book includes the following content and essays:

Making Avonlea: An Introduction by Irene Gammel

I. Mapping Avonlea: Cultural Value and Iconography

1. Anne of Green Gables Goes to University: L.M. Montgomery and Academic Culture by Carole Gerson
2. Anatomy of a 'National Icon': Anne of Green Gables and the 'Bosom Friends' Affair by Cecily Devereux
3. Confessions of a Kindred Spirit with an Academic Bent by Brenda R. Weber
4. Taking Control: Hair Red, Black, Gold, and Nut-Brown by Juliet McMaster
5. 'This has been a day in hell': Montgomery, Popular Literature, Life Writing by Margaret Steffler
6. The Visual Imagination of L.M. Montgomery by Elizabeth R. Epperly
7. Writing in Pictures: International Images of Emily by Andrea McKenzie
8. Safe Pleasures for Girls: L.M. Montgomery's Erotic Landscapes by Irene Gammel

II. Viewing Avonlea: Film, Television, Drama, and Musical

9. 'It's all mine': The Modern Woman as Writer in Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables Films by Eleanor Hersey
10. Who's Got the Power? Montgomery, Sullivan, and the Unsuspecting Viewer by K.L. Poe
11. 'She look'd down to Camelot': Anne Shirley, Sullivan, and the Lady of Shalott by Ann F. Howey
12. Road to Avonlea: A Co-production of the Disney Corporation by Benjamin Lefebvre
13. Melodrama for the Nation: Emily of New Moon by Christopher Gittings
14. Paul Ledoux's Anne: A Journey from Page to Stage by George Belliveau
15. Snapshot: Listening to the Music in Anne of Green Gables: The Musical by Carrie MacLellan

III. Touring Avonlea: Landscape, Tourism, and Spin-off Products

16. Towards a Theory of the Popular Landscape in Anne of Green Gables by Janice Fiamengo
17. Mass Marketing, Popular Culture, and the Canadian Celebrity Author by E. Holly Pike
18. Through the Eyes of Memory: L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish by James De Jonge
19. Consumable Avonlea: The Commondification of the Green Gables Mythology by Jeanette Lynes
20. Snapshot: Making Anne and Emily Dolls by Tara MacPhail
21. Snapshot: My Life as Anne in Japan by Tara Nogler
22. Taishu Bunka and Anne Clubs in Japan by Danièle Allard
23. Avonlea in Cyberspace, Or an Invitation to a Hyperreal Tea Party by Alice Van Der Klei

Epilogue: A Letter from Germany by Beate Nock


Image credit:

Scan of my book cover of Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture.

Purchase and read Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture:

Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture edited by Irene Gammel

Created September 10, 2002. Last updated August 14, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

October 15, 2001

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album compiled by Kevin McCabe and edited by Alexandra Heilbron

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album is a book compiled by Kevin McCabe and edited by Alexandra Heilbron that was published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in February 1999. This coffee table book is a beautiful collection of information about L.M. Montgomery's life and works, with essays on a wide breath of topics. The book is generously illustrated with photographs, book covers, news articles, and more.

A new edition of the book was published in 2008.

Here is the description of the book from Fitzhenry & Whiteside:

This striking collection of Lucy Maud Montgomery facts, lore, memorabilia, and tidings provides a comprehensive look at the life and times of one of Canada's most beloved authors. Containing over 400 photographs and illustrations, and nearly 100 articles, The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album weaves together many sides of Maud's complex and multi-faceted life-journey, from the obscure Maritime teacher to internationally beloved author.

Montgomery's own letters, photographs and newspaper articles help illuminate the persona little known beyond the Anne of Green Gables legend - the young Dalhousie student, the nurturing mother and social arbiter, the cat lover, accomplished thespian and avid photographer.

We meet her many beaux and suitors, learn how she coped with economic difficulty during the Depression, and discover how she challenged the exploitive nature of her first publisher, L.C. Page.

Intriguing essays by leading experts shed new light on this fascinating and sometimes troubled genius. Mary Rubio tells us how the private journals of Prince Edward Island's most cherished treasure ended up in Guelph, Ontario alongside one of Maud's literary ancestors, Edith Katherine Smith explores the complex and often contradictory aspects of the passionate puritan, and Sandra Gwyn discusses Maud's influence on such widely-known contemporary authors, as Kit Pearson, Jane Urquhart, and winner of the 1998 Giller Prize, Alice Munro.

Rounding out this fascinating and eclectic treasure trove is a detailed account of Anne of Green Gables festivals world wide, e-mail addresses to all Lucy Maud Montgomery newsletters, web-sites, and much, much more.


Review

"This large, glossy volume is more than just an attractive coffee-table book about one of Canada’s best-loved authors; it is a veritable treasure trove for die-hard Montgomery fans."
–Elisabeth Anne MacDonald-Murray, Canadian Book Review Annual Online


The book includes the following content and essays:

PREFACE by Don Harron
Lucy Maud Montgomery: Passionate Puritan Edith Katherine Smith
Abegweit, "I have come home" L.M. Montgomery
Order of the British Empire Mollie Gillen

Chapter 1. THE LAND SHE WAS BORN TO

A Pilgrimage to L.M. Montgomery's Island Kevin McCabe
The Lucy Maud Montgomery Birthplace, New London Father Bolger
The Macneill Homestead: "Hallowed Ground" Jennie Macneill
The Hon. Donald Montgomery Homestead Edith Katherine Smith
Silver Bush Sandy Wagner
Green Gables Carolyn Strom Collins

Chapter 2. CHILDHOOD IN P.E.I., 1874-1890

Growing up in Cavendish Kevin McCabe
Maud's Early Schooldays Kevin McCabe
The Alpine Path Kevin McCabe
The Marco Polo: "The Fastest Ship in the World" Kevin McCabe
"The Wreck of the Marco Polo" L.M. Montgomery
Letters Written by Eleven-year-old Maud Robertson Library
The Fashions of L.M. Montgomery Jonathan Walford

Chapter 3. STARTING FRESH IN SASKATCHEWAN, 1890-1

Hugh John Montgomery in Saskatchewan, 1880-90 Kevin McCabe
Lucy Maud Montgomery in Prince Albert Bill Smiley

Chapter 4. THE HAPPIEST YEARS OF MY LIFE, 1891-1898

"The Happiest Year of My Life:" Prince of Wales College Kevin McCabe
The Teaching Years Joanne Wood
Dalhousie University, 1895-96 Kevin McCabe
The Scrapbooks Carolyn Strom Collins
Maud's Beaux Alexandra Heilbron
True Love By A Whisker Bev Hayden

Chapter 5. EARLY WRITING CAREER, 1899-1902

Budding Poetess Kevin McCabe
Bliss Carman
L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture John Ferns
Halifax Days Carol Dobson
Lucy Maud Montgomery's Table Talk Kevin McCabe
Through the Eyes of L.M. Montgomery Elizabeth R. Epperly
L.M. Montgomery and Her Pen-Pals Kevin McCabe
Ephraim Weber Kevin McCabe

Chapter 6. RETURN TO CAVENDISH, 1903-1911

A Life Less Happy: the Dilemma of Being Maud Kevin McCabe
Wintertime in Cavendish, 1908 Jennie Macneill
Was Anne a Real Girl? Alexandra Heilbron
Images of Anne Throughout the Years Jack Hutton and Linda Jackson-Hutton
Miss L.M. Montgomery, Author of Anne of Green Gables The Boston Republic
Anne Around the World Alexandra Heilbron
Cavendish's 1911 Presentation to Miss Montgomery
Maud's Letter to Fannie Wise L.M. Montgomery

Chapter 7. ONTARIO

Part A. LEASKDALE, 1911-1926

Mrs. Macdonald of the Leakdale Manse Allan McGillivray
The Great War Gabrielle Ceraldi
Chester and Stuart: A Photo Album Kevin McCabe
A Star and a Stone: Maud and Ewen Macdonald Joanne Wood
Two Very Necessary People: Frede And Ewen Kevin McCabe
A Tour of Uxbridge and Leakdale Kevin McCabe

Part B. NORVAL, 1926-35

Norval: Then and Now John Ferns
Living in Norval Kelly Crawford
Maud's and Anne's Recipes Kelly Crawford, Elaine Crawford, Kate Macdonald
L.M. Montgomery and Friendship Mary Beth Cavert
Good Help is Hard to Find Melanie Kingston
LMM and Anne Go to Court Marian Hebb

Part C. TORONTO, 1935-42

Toronto: 1935-42 John Ferns
My Meeting with L.M. Montgomery Winifred Alston
Flowers and L.M. Montgomery Elizabeth Waterston
My Grandmother Donny Luella Veijalainen
L.M. Montgomery Replies to a Young Fan Trudy Ramsey
Remembering Maud in Toronto Yuka Kajihara and D. Jason Nolan
L.M. Montgomery's Last Letter to Ephraim Weber
The Funeral of L.M. Montgomery Kevin McCabe
Obituary of L.M. Montgomery New York Times
Obituary of Ewen Macdonald Presbyterian Register

Chapter 8. MONTGOMERY ON STAGE AND SCREEN

Is This My Anne L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical Don Harron & Norman Campbell
Anne of Green Gables: the Sullivan Adaptations Alexandra Heilbron
Road to Avonlea: A Canadian Success Story Alexandra Heilbron
The Sets of Avonlea Ben Jansen
Avonlea Without Anne Ben Lefebre
An Avonlea Symphony Ben Jansen
Emily of New Moon on Television Alexandra Heilbron

Chapter 9. LMM FESTIVALS

Cavendish's Annual Lucy Maud Montgomery Festival Linda Lowther
Montgomery Christmas in Norval Kathy Gastle
Bala's Museum with Memories of L.M. Montgomery Jack Hutton
Anne Shirley Look-Alike Contests Jack Hutton
Celebrating Anne of the Silver Screen at Westfield Heritage Centre Margaret Firth
Uxbridge/Leakdale L. M. Montgomery Days
Canadian World in Japan Alexandra Heilbron

Chapter 10. SHADES OF L.M. MONTGOMERY

"A Page of Grumbles:" L.M. Montgomery and her Journals Elizabeth Ballantyne
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Carol Shields
Maud's Money Richard Dionne
Lucy Maud Words
The Motoring Macdonalds Alexandra Heilbron
The Cancer Man
The Sagittarius Woman
The Psychic World of Maud Montgomery Alexandra Heilbron

Chapter 11. ANNE INTERNATIONAL

An Influential Anne in Japan Yuka Kajihara
Home Sweet Home
Japan of Green Gables Murray Whyte
Anne of Red Hair Calvin Trillin
The Kindred Spirits E-mail Newsletter M.E. Smith
Kindred Spirits from Around the World
L.M. Montgomery Magazines and Newsletters
Finding L.M. Montgomery in Quebec Isabelle Goyette
Ethnic Minorities in Montgomery's Writing Kevin McCabe
Canada's Commemorate Stamps Alexandra Heilbron
Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority Inc.

Chapter 12. ANNE IN ACADEMIA

L.M. Montgomery's Book Dedications Mary Beth Cavert
The Cavendish Library Joanne Wood
Why L.M. Montgomery's Journals Came to Guelph Mary Rubio
The Author and the Island Anna Macdonald
The Rescue of the Montgomery-MacMillan Letters Mollie Gillen
Anne of Green Gables: A Sign of the Times Mary E. Doody Jones
Rea Wilmshurst and L.M. Montgomery Susan Drain
The Emily Effect Sandra Gwyn
The Pink and Gold Heart L.M. Montgomery

Appendix-Family Tree
Footnotes
Bibliography
Contributors' Biographies
Acknowledgements
Index
Archives
Picture Credits


Image credit:
Photograph of my copy of The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album.

Purchase and read The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album:

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album compiled by Kevin McCabe and edited by Alexandra Heilbron

Created October 15, 2001. Last updated September 9, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

October 01, 2000

L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture

L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture edited by Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture was edited by Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Rollins Epperly and was published by the University of Toronto Press in June 1999. This volume contains a collection of essays and reflections on L.M. Montgomery's influence on Canadian culture and identity and her place in Canadian literary history. Among other subjects, the articles examine Montgomery's impact on cultural tourism, her role in presenting Canadian culture to a global audience, and her depictions of Canadian womanhood.


Here is the description of the volume from the University of Toronto Press:

Despite the enormous popularity of her books, particularly Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery's role in the development of Canada's national culture is not often discussed by literary historians. This is curious as some of Canada's leading writers, including Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, and Jane Urquhart, have acknowledged their indebtedness to Montgomery's fiction.

That scholars have not mined the 'Canadianness' of Montgomery's writing is redressed by this collection. It is the first systematic effort to investigate and explore Montgomery's active engagement with Canadian nationalism and identity, including regionalism, canon formation, and Canadian-American cultural relations. It examines her work in relation to the many dramatic changes of her day, such as the women's movement and the advent of new technologies; and it looks at the national and international consumption of Anne of Green Gables, in the form of both 'high' culture and cultural tourism.

The wide range of contributors represent views from across disciplines and boundaries, including feminist, biographical, psychoanalytical, historical, and cultural approaches. The scholarly reflections are punctuated to great effect by creative pieces, personal reflections, and interviews.

This ground-breaking collection will appeal to all fans of Montgomery's work and to students of Canadian letters. It places Montgomery and her work squarely in the mainstream of Canadian literary history, affirming her importance to our country's cultural development.


Reviews (see additional reviews)

In setting out to prove that a popular writer like Montgomery should be taken seriously as a focal point of Canadian literary history, Gammel and Epperly are singularly successful. The essays are intriguing, informative, and clearly structured, as interesting to the layman as to the scholar.
— Nancy Schiefer, London Free Press, October 23, 1999

Whether she is interpreted as subversive or conservative, this collection leaves no doubt that Montgomery does indeed have a significant place in Canadian culture – whether high, low, or ‘pop' .... It seems fitting, too, that the compilation of literary criticism, personal ‘reflection pieces' and journalism should make a readable collection, likely to be as enjoyable for Montgomery's educated popular audience as it is for her scholarly critics.
— Deirdre Baker, Humanities, 1999


The book includes the following content and essays:

Introduction

L.M. Montgomery and the Shaping of Canadian Culture by Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Epperly

Part 1. Montgomery and Canada: Romancing the Region, Constructing the Nation

Montgomery and Canadian Nationalism
1. 'A Born Canadian': The Bonds of Communal Identity in Anne of Green Gables and A Tangled Web by Laura M. Robinson
2. The End of Canadian Innocence: L.M. Montgomery and the First World War by Owen Dudley Edwards and Jennifer H. Litster

Romance and the Shaping of Canadian Culture
3. 'Dragged at Anne's Chariot Wheels': The Triangle of Author, Publisher, and Fictional Character by Carole Gerson
4. (Re)Producing Canadian Literature: L.M. Montgomery's Emily Novels by E. Holly Pike
5. Reflection Piece—The Poetry of L.M. Montgomery by Elizabeth Waterston

Part 2. Montgomery and Canadian Society: Negotiating Cultural Change

Religion, Education, and Technology
6. L.M. Montgomery: Scottish-Presbyterian Agency in Canadian Culture by Mary Henley Rubio
7. Disciplining Development: L.M. Montgomery and Early Schooling by Irene Gammel and Ann Dutton
8. 'Daisy,' 'Dodgie,' and 'Lady Jane Grey Dort': L.M. Montgomery and the Automobile by Sasha Mullally

Motherhood, Family, and Feminism
9. Knitting Up the World: L.M. Montgomery and Maternal Feminism in Canada by Erika Rothwell
10. The Canadian Family and Female Adolescent Development during the 1930s: Jane of Lantern Hill by Diana Arlene Chlebek
11. Reflection Piece—'I Wrote Two Hours This Morning and Put Up Grape Juice in the Afternoon': The Conflict between Woman and Writer in L.M. Montgomery's Journals by Roberta Buchanan

Part 3. Montgomery and Canadian Iconography: Consuming the Popular

Anne as Cultural Icon
12. The Hard-Won Power of Canadian Womanhood: Reading Anne of Green Gables Today by Frank Davey
13. Anne in Hollywood: The Americanization of a Canadian Icon by Theodore F. Sheckels
14. Reflection Piece—Anne Shirley and the Power of Literacy: Sharon J. Hamilton interviewed by Dianne Hicks Morrow

Montgomery, Canada, and Cultural Tourism
15. Japanese Readings of Anne of Green Gables by Yoshiko Akamatsu
16. Anne of Red Hair: What Do the Japanese See in Anne of Green Gables? by Calvin Trillin
17. Reflection Piece—Revisiting Anne by Margaret Atwood

Epilogue
L.M. Montgomery and the Creation of Prince Edward Island by Deirdre Kessler


Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture:

L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture edited by Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

Created October 1, 2000. Last updated August 16, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

October 17, 1999

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly was published by the University of Toronto Press in 1992. This early work of literary criticism on L.M. Montgomery's writings examines the lives of Montgomery's heroines and how her characters seek happiness and romance. A second edition of the book was published in 2014 with a new preface by the author.

Here is the description of the book from its 1993 cover:

Anne Shirley is the best known of a memorable group of heroines created by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a group that includes Emily Byrd Starr, Valancy Stirling, and Pat Gardiner. These characters are at the centre of Epperly's book, the first full-length critical study of all L.M. Montgomery's fiction.

Epperly contends that Montgomery was a master of the romance genre, and through her use of literary allusions, repetitions, irony, and comic inversions she deftly manipulated the normal conventions of romance novels. By studying the fictional biographies of the heroines and their pursuit of romance, Epperly questions the ways romance shapes what we consider valuable in our imaginings and experience.

A book written for L.M. Montgomery fans and scholars.

'Now you don't have to hide that Montgomery novel when an intellectual friend drops by. Flaunt it and enjoy.'
Patricia Morley, Ottawa Citizen

Here is the description of the book from the 2014 edition:

When it originally appeared, Elizabeth Rollins Epperly’s The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass was one of the first challenges to the idea that L.M. Montgomery’s books were unworthy of serious study. Examining all of Montgomery’s fiction, Epperly argues that Montgomery was much more than a master of the romance genre and that, through her use of literary allusions, repetitions, irony, and comic inversions, she deftly manipulated the normal conventions of romance novels. Focusing on Montgomery’s memorable heroines, from Anne Shirley to Emily Byrd Starr, Valancy Stirling, and Pat Gardiner, Epperly demonstrates that Montgomery deserves a place in the literary canon not just as the creator of Anne of Green Gables but as an artist in her chosen profession.

Since its publication more than twenty years ago, The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass has become a favourite of scholars, writers, and Montgomery fans. This new edition adds a preface in which Epperly discusses the book’s contribution to the ongoing research on the life and writing of L.M. Montgomery, reflects on how Montgomery studies have flourished over the past two decades, and suggests new ways to approach and explore the Canadian writer’s work.



The 2014 edition of the book includes the following contents:

PREFACE TO THE 2014 EDITION
PERMISSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABBREVIATIONS

Introduction

PART I ANNE
Romancing the Voice: Anne of Green Gables
Romance Awry: Anne of Avonlea
Recognition: Anne of the Island
'This Enchanted Shore': Anne's House of Dreams
Heroism's Childhood: Rainbow Valley
Womanhood and War: Rilla of Ingleside
Recapturing the Anne World: Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne of Ingleside

PART II EMILY
The Struggle for Voice: Emily of New Moon
Testing the Voice: Emily Climbs
Love and Career: Emily's Quest

PART IIII THE OTHER HEROINES
Romancing the Home: Pat of Silver Bush, Mistress Pat, Jane of Lantern Hill
A Changing Heroism: An Overview of the Other Novels

Epilogue

NOTES
WORKS CITED
INDEX


ISBN-13: 9780802059994


Image credit:
Book cover of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance.

Purchase and read The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass (2014 edition):

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

Created October 17, 1999. Last updated December 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

October 16, 1999

L.M. Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery by Genevieve Wiggins

L.M. Montgomery by Genevieve Wiggins was published by Twayne Publishers in 1992. The book is volume 834 in Twayne's World Author Series, and it was edited by Ruth K. MacDonald, who Wiggins describes in her preface as a "kindred spirit." The volume includes biographical information on L.M. Montgomery and literary criticism of Montgomery's novels, short stories, and poetry. Wiggins notes in her preface that, "This book is the first full-length critical study of the works of L.M. Montgomery and the first extensive study of her work by a non-Canadian."

Here is the description of the book from its dust cover:

The early promise Montgomery displayed in Anne of Green Gables was fulfilled in many ways. She pursued her writing career with indefatigable determination, publishing 20 novels as well as short stories and poems. Montgomery revitalized the ever-popular orphan story, curtailing its customary sentimentality and creating believable protagonists who are appealingly honest and not always well behaved. A lifelong lover of nature, Montgomery was gifted in her ability to convey a sense of place, especially the rural Canada of her youth.



The book includes the following contents:

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chronology

1 "The Round of Life": L.M. Montgomery

2 "Born of True Love": Anne of Green Gables

3 From Avonlea to Four Winds: 1909–1917

4 More about Anne: 1919–1939

5 "Where Airy Voices Lead": The Emily Trilogy

6 Other Series Heroines: Sara Stanley and Pat Gardiner

7 Novels without Sequels

8 Short Stories and Poems

Afterword

Notes and References

Selected Bibliography

Index


ISBN-13: 978-0805739800


Image credit:

Book cover of L.M. Montgomery.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery:

L.M. Montgomery by Genevieve Wiggins

Created October 16, 1999. Last updated December 9, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

October 15, 1999

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones was published by the Oxford University Press in August 1997. This book was the first fully annotated edition of the novel, and it features explanatory notes throughout the text. The volume includes a chronology of L.M. Montgomery's life, a description of the book's publication, and details on the autobiographical connections between L.M. Montgomery and Anne Shirley. In the appendices, the editors reveal the novel's wide-ranging literary and cultural allusions as well as information on the geography and history of Prince Edward Island. In addition, there are in-depth details on the time period in which the novel was set, so modern readers can gain insight to Anne's world.


Here is the description of the volume from the Oxford University Press:

Since its publication in 1908, Anne of Green Gables has been a continuous international best-seller, enjoying successful television adaptations on PBS and The Disney Channel, and captivating children and adults alike with the irresistible charms of its remarkable heroine, Anne Shirley. This wildly imaginative, red-headed chatterbox tries to fit into the narrow confines of Victorian expectations, but her exuberant spirit keeps leaping delightfully beyond the bounds. Indeed, when Maud Montgomery decided to reject the sermonizing formulas of the children's books of her day, she brought to life a character much closer to Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, and Tom Sawyer--also orphans, like Anne--than to the self-sacrificing, conformist heroines then in demand. In doing so, Montgomery subtly questioned the values of her society--the stifling restraints of its religion and most especially its treatment of women--while giving readers all the pleasures of her considerable story-telling gifts.

Now, in this first fully annotated edition of Anne of Green Gables, readers will appreciate more clearly than ever before the scope and depth of this extraordinary novel. Editors Margaret Anne Doody, Mary Doody Jones, and Wendy Barry provide a richly illustrated, completely revised text, along with hundreds of notes describing the real-life characters and settings Anne encounters, the autobiographical connections between Anne and Maud Montgomery, and the book's astonishing range of literary, biblical, and mythological references. Additional essays offer fascinating background information on such topics as the geography and settlement of Prince Edward Island (where Anne takes place); the education, orphanages, music, and literature of Anne's time; and the horticulture, homemade artifacts, and food preparation that are so prevalent in the story. Margaret Anne Doody supplies a comprehensive introduction, which situates the novel in its literary and social contexts, explores those aspects of Montgomery's life most relevant to the story, examines revisions in the manuscripts, and provides an overall sense of both the impulses that drove Montgomery to write Anne of Green Gables and the larger concerns it dramatizes so compellingly. This edition also contains a chronology of Montgomery's life, an extensive bibliography, songs and poems that appear in the text, and a selection of original reviews of the book. This wealth of material enables readers to grasp the marvelous multi-layeredness of the novel and to understand more fully its place in both its own time and in ours.

Elegantly and beautifully designed, with generous illustrations from previous editions, photographs of the places the novel inhabits, and explanatory drawings that reproduce the texture of Anne's world, The Annotated Anne of Green Gables is a major event in the publishing history of one of the world's most charming stories.


Reviews (see additional reviews)

"Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables has reached the status of both children's literary classic and cult phenomenon.... For those unable to visit her home, three serious scholars have annotated the beloved work.... Many period photographs add to the coverage, and the research appears to be so thorough that it seems unlikely that a revised edition of this work will ever be necessary. Those who worship at the feet of the divine Anne Shirley may find that this volume will satisfy all their desires for adulation and information."
-The Horn Book Inc

"There's plenty here for scholars and fans; this edition should not be relegated to the reference shelves."
-Kirkus Reviews


Image credit:
Book cover of The Annotated Anne of Green Gables.

Purchase and read The Annotated Anne of Green Gables:

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones

Created October 15, 1999. Last updated August 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com