2024 is L.M. Montgomery’s 150th birthday! The L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI) at the University of Prince Edward Island is celebrating with 150 tributes – celebratory statements or greetings – that reflect upon personal connections to Montgomery or on an aspect of her life, work, or legacy.
*
As Åsa Warnqvist’s, Tatiane Rodrigues Lopes dos Santos and Eliane Aparecida Galvão Ribeiro Ferreira’s, and Mina Mollaie’s tributes attest, Montgomery scholarship is thriving internationally.
*
Montgomery Scholarship in Sweden
Det är många minnen och upplevelser i mitt liv som jag inte hade haft om jag inte hade plockat ut en serie böcker om en stolt flicka med svart hår, Murray-blick och stark integritet ur hyllan på mitt skolbibliotek. Då var jag tio-elva år, precis som hon. Emily slog an en sträng som fortfarande vibrerar. Senare lärde jag känna Anne och genom min forskning oräkneliga andra besläktade själar. Åtskilliga Montgomery-konferenser senare, liksom diverse arkivbesök i svenska och kanadensiska arkiv, hundratals insamlade läsupplevelser från svenska Montgomery-läsare, många rundturer i de vackra miljöer på Prince Edward Island och i Ontario där Montgomery levde och skrev sina böcker, har gjort mig till en läsare, forskare och turist som är en myriad av upplevelser rikare. Tack, Maud, för allt detta – och grattis!
There are many memories and experiences in my life that I would never have had, had I not picked a book series about a proud girl with black hair, the Murray look, and strong integrity from the shelf in my school library. I was ten or eleven then, just like she was. Emily struck a chord that still resonates. Later I got to know Anne and, through my research, innumerable other kindred spirits. Several Montgomery conferences later, as well as plenty of visits to Swedish and Canadian archives, hundreds of reading experiences of Montgomery’s novels collected from Swedish readers, and many tours of the beautiful places in Prince Edward Island and Ontario where Montgomery lived and wrote her books, has made me a reader, scholar, and tourist rich in a myriad of experiences. Thank you, Maud, for all of this – and happy anniversary!
Åsa Warnqvist, a scholar of literature and the manager of the Swedish Institute for Children’s Books, organized the first international L.M. Montgomery conference outside of Canada in 2009, and was a Visiting Scholar at the L.M. Montgomery Institute in 2011–2013, pursuing her post-doctoral research project, L.M. Montgomery in Sweden.
*
Montgomery Scholarship in Brazil
L.M. Montgomery tornou-se uma autora popular no Brasil apenas recentemente. Embora seu romance de estreia, Anne de Green Gables, tenha sido publicado no país pela primeira vez em 1939, é somente com o sucesso de sua adaptação para série televisiva, intitulada Anne with an “E”, que os leitores brasileiros (re)descobrem esta narrativa. Essa redescoberta da obra de Montgomery possibilitou que 27 novas edições deste livro fossem lançadas e iniciassem um fenômeno no Brasil, o que chamou a atenção, por sua vez, de alguns pesquisadores. Acreditamos que a produção de Montgomery, pela construção das personagens femininas, pelas temáticas de autodescoberta, autoaceitação, identificação e pertencimento, pelo caráter dialógico e pela linguagem estética, tem potencialidade para cativar o jovem leitor brasileiro, fomentar e ampliar o imaginário do jovem leitor, bem como despertar seu senso crítico sobre relações humanas em sociedade e literatura de autoria feminina.
L.M. Montgomery has become a famous author in Brazil recently. Although her novel Anne of Green Gables was first published in the country in 1939, it was only with the success of its television adaptation Anne with an “E” that Brazilian readers (re)discovered her story. This rediscovery of Montgomery’s work motivated the publication of 28 new Anne of Green Gables Brazilian editions and started a national phenomenon. In turn, it caught researchers’ attention. Montgomery’s literary production, through the construction of female characters, the themes of self-discovery, self-acceptance, identification, belonging, its dialogical nature, and aesthetic language, has captivated young Brazilian readers. It has also expanded the reader’s imagination, awakening a critical sense of human relations in society and literature written by women.
Tatiane Rodrigues Lopes dos Santos is a Ph.D. candidate in literature at the Assis campus of São Paulo State University (UNESP). Eliane Aparecida Galvão Ribeiro Ferreira is a professor at UNESP and the coordinator of the master’s degree and Ph.D. program in literature of UNESP – Assis campus.
*
Montgomery Scholarship in Iran
امروز چمدان می‌بندم. روی تخت مقداری لباس، لوازم تحریر، و خوراکی‌های دست‌پخت‌های مامان پهن شده؛ چیزهایی که برای سفرم به خوابگاهی در 1000 کیلومتریِ خانه نیاز دارم. دانشجوی ترم اول ادبیات انگلیسی هستم و اضطراب تسخیرم کرده. انگار چیز مهمی را فراموش کرده‌ام و بعد پیدایش می‌کنم:رمانی با صفحات تاخورده که در سال‌های نوجوانی راهنمایم بوده. «آنی شرلی در جزیره» را دست می‌گیرم و احساس آشنایی در وجودم پخش می‌شود. حالم حالا خیلی بهتر است. دارم گوشۀ امنم را ترک می‌کنم و پا به دنیایی جدید می‌گذارم؛ درست شبیه آنی. و آنی بار دیگر همراه من است. چمدان را می‌بندم و کتاب را در کیفم می‌گذارم. حالا برای قطار آماده‌ام و ناشناخته‌ها کمتر ترسناک به‌نظر می‌رسند. حضور آنی را واقعی‌تر از همیشه حس می‌کنم. می‌دانم در این سفر قرار است همراهم باشد و با وجودش قلبم آرام‌تر خواهد گرفت. می‌دانم که احتمالاً از پسش برمی‌آیم.خ
این یعنی اثرِ آنی.
It’s packing day. My bed is a jumble of outfits, stationery, and homemade snacks – all the essentials for my journey to the dormitory six-hundred miles away. I’m a freshman English major, and anxiety is seeping into my brain. It seems like something crucial is missing. Then, I spot it: a dog-eared novel that has been my guiding star all through adolescence. I take Anne of the Island, hug it, inhale its comforting familiarity, and instantly, my nerves settle. I’m setting off, leaving my comfort zone and stepping into the unknown – just like Anne. She’ll accompany me once more. I zip up my suitcase, tucking Anne into the handbag. Ready for the train, the unknown feels less daunting now. Her presence feels stronger than ever. On my ten-hour ride, with her by my side, my heart feels lighter. Maybe I've got this. Perhaps I’ve got this.
This is the Anne Effect.
Mina Mollaie is an Iranian student of English who feels forever indebted to L.M. Montgomery and Anne Shirley for inspiring her literary passions and endless daydreams.
*
To celebrate World Appreciation Day next week, the L.M. Montgomery Institute will say thanks to some of the wonderful students we have had assisting us by sharing their tributes.