The L.M. Montgomery Reader: Volume One: A Life in Print

by Benjamin Lefebvre

Overview

Now available in paperback, The L.M. Montgomery Reader assembles rediscovered primary material on one of Canada’s most enduringly popular authors, spanning the entirety of her high-profile career and the years since her death.

The first volume, A Life in Print, focuses specifically on Montgomery’s role as a public celebrity and author of the resoundingly successful Anne of Green Gables (1908). The selections give a strong impression of Montgomery as a writer and cultural critic as she discusses a range of topics with wit, wisdom, and humour, including the natural landscape of Prince Edward Island, her wide readership, anxieties about modernity, and the continued relevance of "old ideals." These essays and interviews, joined by a number of additional pieces that discuss her work’s literary and cultural value in relation to an emerging canon of Canadian literature, make up nearly one hundred selections in all.

Each volume in The L.M. Montgomery Reader is accompanied by an extensive introduction and detailed commentary by leading Montgomery scholar Benjamin Lefebvre that traces the interplay between the author and the critic, as well as between the private and the public Montgomery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442668577
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/11/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Benjamin Lefebvre, editor of The L.M. Montgomery Library, is director of L.M. Montgomery Online. His publications include an edition of Montgomery’s rediscovered final book, The Blythes Are Quoted, and the three-volume critical anthology The L.M. Montgomery Reader, which won the 2016 PROSE Award for Literature from the Association of American Publishers. He lives in Kitchener, Ontario.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: A Life in Print
BENJAMIN LEFEBVRE

A Note on the Text

1. [Such a Delightful Little Person] (1908)

2. Author Tells How He Wrote His Story (1908)

3. Origin of Popular Book (1908)

4. The Author of Anne of Avonlea (1909)

5. Miss Montgomery, the Author of the “Anne” Books (1909)
A. WYLIE MAHON

6. A Trio of Women Writers (1909)
DONALD B. SINCLAIR

7. Canadian Writers on Canadian Literature – A Symposium (1910)

8. Says Woman’s Place Is Home (1910)

9. Want to Know How to Write Books? Well Here’s a Real Recipe (1910)
PHOEBE DWIGHT

10. Miss Montgomery’s Visit to Boston (1910)

11. Four Questions Answered (1910)
LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY

12. Miss L.M. Montgomery, Author of Anne of Green Gables (1910)

13. How I Began to Write (1911)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

14. [Seasons in the Woods] (1911)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

15. With Our Next-Door Neighbors: Prince Edward Island (1911)
THOMAS F. ANDERSON

16. [The Marriage of L.M. Montgomery] (1911)

17. A Canadian Novelist of Note Interviewed (1911)

18. Interviews with Authors (1911)
ANNE E. NIAS

19. The Old Minister in The Story Girl (1912)
A. WYLIE MAHON

20. L.M. Montgomery: Story Writer (1913)
MARJORY MACMURCHY

21. L.M. Montgomery at Women’s Canadian Club (1913)

22. L.M. Montgomery of the Island (1914)
MARJORY MACMURCHY

23. What Twelve Canadian Women Hope to See as the Outcome of the War (1915)

24. The Way to Make a Book (1915)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

25. How I Began (1915)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

26. [This Hideous War] (1915)

27. What Are the Greatest Books in the English Language? (1916)

28. My Favorite Bookshelf (1917)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

29. The Author of Anne (1919)
ETHEL CHAPMAN

30. The Gay Days of Old (1919)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

31. Introduction to Further Chronicles of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery (1920)
NATHAN HASKELL DOLE

32. One Little Girl Who Wrote to L.M. Montgomery and Received a Reply (1920)

33. A Sextette of Canadian Women Writers (1920)
OWEN MCGILLICUDDY

34. Blank Verse? “Very Blank,” Said Father (1921)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

35. “I Dwell among My Own People” (1921)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

36. Bits from My Mailbag (1922)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

37. From Fiction Writers on Fiction Writing: Advice, Opinions and a Statement of Their Own Working Methods by More Than One Hundred Authors (1923)

38. Novel Writing Notes (1923)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

39. Proud That Canadian Literature Is Clean (1924)

40. Canadian Public Cold to Its Own Literature (1924)

41. Thinks Modern Flapper Will Be Strict Mother (1924)

42. Symposium on Canadian Fiction in Which Canadian Authors Express Their Preferences (1924)

43. Something about L.M. Montgomery (1925)

44. L.M. Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside: A Reader’s Journal (1925)
ALTAIR

45. Famous Author and Simple Mother (1925)
NORMA PHILLIPS MUIR

46. The Day before Yesterday (1927)
L.M. MONTGOMERY MACDONALD

47. Who’s Who in Canadian Literature: L.M. Montgomery (1927)
V.B. RHODENIZER

48. About Canadian Writers: L.M. Montgomery, the Charming Author of “Anne” (1927)
KATHERINE HALE

49. On Being of the Tribe of Joseph (1927)
AUSTIN BOTHWELL

50. Minister’s Wife and Authoress (1928)
C.L. COWAN

51. An Autobiographical Sketch (1929)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

52. Modern Girl Defined by Noted Writer (1929)

53. L.M. Montgomery’s Ideas (1930)

54. The ’Teen-Age Girl (1931)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

55. Anne of Green Gables at Home (1931)
A.V. BROWN

56. An Open Letter from a Minister’s Wife (1931)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

57. Life Has Been Interesting (1933)
MRS. L.M. MACDONALD (L.M. MONTGOMERY)

58. The Importance of Beauty in Everything (1933)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

5.9 From Courageous Women (1934)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

60. Author to Get No Profit as Green Gables Filmed (1934)

61. Film Preview of Noted Novel Honors Canadian Woman Writer (1934)

62. Is This My Anne (1935)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

63. Foreword to Up Came the Moon, by Jessie Findlay Brown (1936)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

64. Come Back with Me to Prince Edward Island (1936)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

65. Memories of Childhood Days (1936)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

66. The Mother of the Anne Series – Lucy M. Montgomery (1937)
EVA-LIS WUORIO, TRANSLATED BY VAPPU KANNAS

67. The Book and the Film (1937)

68. For and about Girls (1937)
L.M. MONTGOMERY

69. Prince Edward Island (1939)
L.M. MONTGOMERY, OBE

70. Beloved Writer Addresses Several Aurora Gatherings (1940)

71. Noted Author Dies Suddenly at Home Here (1942)

72. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1942)

73. L.M. Montgomery’s “Anne” (1942)

74. Body of Island’s Beloved Authoress Home for Burial (1942)

75. Island Writer Laid to Rest at Cavendish (1942)

76. The Creator of “Anne” (1942)

77. [L.M. Montgomery’s Last Poem] (1942)

78. L.M. Montgomery / Mrs. (Rev.) Ewen Macdonald (1942)

79. L.M. Montgomery as a Letter-Writer (1942)
E. WEBER

80. L.M. Montgomery’s “Anne” (1944)
E. WEBER

Epilogue: Anne of Green Gables – The Story of the Photoplay (1920)

ARABELLA BOONE

Sources

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Carole Gerson

"No one knows more than Benjamin Lefebvre about publications by and about L.M. Montgomery, and it's wonderful to have so many previously inaccessible materials now made available. This volume represents a serious advance in state-of-the-art research for Montgomery specialists, and offers a major contribution to our knowledge of Canadian literature and culture for the first half of the twentieth century. Enriched with fulsome annotations and contextualizing information, it will be appreciated by both scholars and Montgomery fans."

From the Publisher

“No one knows more than Benjamin Lefebvre about publications by and about L.M. Montgomery, and it’s wonderful to have so many previously inaccessible materials now made available. This volume represents a serious advance in state-of-the-art research for Montgomery specialists, and offers a major contribution to our knowledge of Canadian literature and culture for the first half of the twentieth century. Enriched with fulsome annotations and contextualizing information, it will be appreciated by both scholars and Montgomery fans.”

“Rich, broad, and extremely well organized, this volume changes the way we understand Montgomery as a writer in a way no previous publication has done. It is an enormously valuable resource for scholars, students, and interested readers of Montgomery?s writing.”

Cecily Devereux

"Rich, broad, and extremely well organized, this volume changes the way we understand Montgomery as a writer in a way no previous publication has done. It is an enormously valuable resource for scholars, students, and interested readers of Montgomery's writing."

Editorial Reviews

"Lefebvre’s archival research is thorough and often brilliant, making the　Reader an invaluable trove not only for Montgomery scholars but also for those working with the reception history of Canadian writers, especially women before Laurence, Munro, and Atwood. For Montgomery completists, the　Reader is irresistible. For those engaged in Montgomery studies or Canadian literature more generally, it is invaluable."

—Anne Furlong, University of Toronto Quarterly vol 84:03:2015

“While Lefebvre’s The L.M. Montgomery Reader is a vital resource of primary sources from and secondary assessments of one of Canada’s most popular twentieth-century authors, it is his insightful and knowledgeable analysis that shapes and gives meaning to the collection. The depth of his knowledge results in a work that is as comprehensible as it is comprehensive.”

—Andre Narbonne, American Review of Canadian Studies

"With this volume, Lefebvre broadens our understanding of Montgomery's reception and reputation both within Canada and internationally, unearthing previously obscure content and commentary and making it accessible to a far wider audience. This reader will thus prove a valuable resource to both existing and future scholars of Montgomery's work and life, as well as those fans keen for a little more insight into the ever-elusive figure of L.M. Montgomery."

—Sarah Galletly, British Journal of Canadian Studies

"Lefebvre has uncovered a cache of new, important material in an already impressive and crowded field of Montgomery scholarship … His sensitive editing of the material brings the public side of Montgomery into better focus as she fields endless questions about how she became a writer, how Anne came to be and whether or not she was a real girl and what the author thought of young women in her day. [This book will] deepen our knowledge and understanding of this beloved Canadian icon."

—Laurie Glenn Norris, Telegraph-Journal (Saint John, NB)

"This comprehensive volume (with its two companions) forms a treasure trove of previously unavailable material; it will be of interest to scholars of Canadian and world literature and possibly to true admirers of Anne of Green Gables and its author."

—Barbara L. Talcroft, Children's Literature LLC

"No one knows more than Benjamin Lefebvre about publications by and about L.M. Montgomery, and it’s wonderful to have so many previously inaccessible materials now made available. This volume represents a serious advance in state-of-the-art research for Montgomery specialists, and offers a major contribution to our knowledge of Canadian literature and culture for the first half of the twentieth century. Enriched with fulsome annotations and contextualizing information, it will be appreciated by both scholars and Montgomery fans."

—Carole Gerson, Department of English, Simon Fraser University

"Rich, broad, and extremely well organized, this volume changes the way we understand Montgomery as a writer in a way no previous publication has done. It is an enormously valuable resource for scholars, students, and interested readers of Montgomery’s writing."

—Cecily Devereux, Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta

From the Publisher

"With this volume, Lefebvre broadens our understanding of Montgomery's reception and reputation both within Canada and internationally, unearthing previously obscure content and commentary and making it accessible to a far wider audience. This reader will thus prove a valuable resource to both existing and future scholars of Montgomery's work and life, as well as those fans keen for a little more insight into the ever-elusive figure of L.M. Montgomery."

British Journal of Canadian Studies - Sarah Galletly

While Lefebvre’s The L.M. Montgomery Reader is a vital resource of primary sources from and secondary assessments of one of Canada’s most popular twentieth-century authors, it is his insightful and knowledgeable analysis that shapes and gives meaning to the collection. The depth of his knowledge results in a work that is as comprehensible as it is comprehensive.”

American Review of Canadian Studies - Andre Narbonne

This comprehensive volume (with its two companions) forms a treasure trove of previously unavailable material; it will be of interest to scholars of Canadian and world literature and possibly to true admirers of Anne of Green Gables and its author.”

Children's Literature LLC - Barbara L. Talcroft

‘Lefebvre’s archival research is thorough and often brilliant, making the Reader an invaluable trove not only for Montgomery scholars but also for those working with the reception history of Canadian writers.’

University of Toronto Quarterly vol 84:03:2015 - Anne Furlong

Lefebvre has uncovered a cache of new, important material in an already impressive and crowded field of Montgomery scholarship. His sensitive editing of the material brings the public side of Montgomery into better focus as she fields endless questions about how she became a writer, how Anne came to be and whether or not she was a real girl and what the author thought of young women in her day. [This book will] deepen our knowledge and understanding of this beloved Canadian icon.”

Telegraph-Journal (Saint John, NB) - Laurie Glenn Norris