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L(ucy) M(aud) Montgomery (1874-1942) |
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Canadian writer, who became famous for her juvenile books, especially Anne of Green Gables (1908) with its six sequels. The main character is a spirited, orphan girl, who finds a home with an elderly brother and sister. L.M. Montgomery produced more than 20 novels and other books. Anne of Green Gables was rejected by several publishers. She was 34 when it was finally accepted. "I'm pretty hungry this morning," she announced, as she slipped into the chair Marilla placed for her. "The world doesn't seem such a howling wilderness as it did last night. I'm so glad it's a sunshiny morning. But I like rainy mornings real well, too. All sorts of mornings are interesting, don't you think? You don't know what's going to happen through the day, and there's so much scope for imagination. But I'm glad it's not rainy to-day because it's easier to be cheerful and bear up under affliction on a sunshiny day. I feel that I have a good deal to bear up under. It's all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it's not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?" (from Anne of Green Gables, illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus, Boston: L. C. Page & Company, MCDCCCVIII, pp. 46-47) Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton (now New London), Prince
Edward Island. When she was two, her mother died of tuberculosis. Her
father, who was a merchant, remarried, and moved away. Montgomery was
raised by her maternal grandparents in Cavendish. The place was
isolated and her childhood was not particularly happy: she grew up in
an atmosphere of strict discipline and punishment for the slightest
reason. She joined her father briefly in Prince Albert, but then
returned to Prince Edward Island. In her journal she later complained,
that if she slipped out for a walk, her grandmother would suspect she
had been out to "see some fellow." Her grandfather had unpredictable,
occasionally explosive nature; she never felt safe in her childhood. At an early age Montgomery read widely. She started to write in school and had her first poem published in a local paper at the age of fifteen. In 1895 Montgomery qualified for a teacher's licence at Prince Wales College, Charlottetown. During the 1890s she worked as a teacher in Bideford and at Lower Bedeque, both on Prince Edward Island. While working in the community of Bedeque she had a romance with Herman Leard; he was four years her senior and destined to take over the prosperous family farm. In her diary she wrote that Herman "sent flame through every vein and fibre of my being." In 1895-96 Montgomery studied literature at Dalhousie University, Halifax. She returned to Cavendish to take care of her grandmother, and worked at a local post office. In 1911, after her grandmother died, Montgomery married Ewan MacDonald, the Presbyterian minister, and moved with him to rural Ontario. While caring for her grandmother, she wrote the first book of the Anne series. It drew on her girlhood experiences. The idea was based on a notebook entry from 1904: "Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent them." Anne of Green Gables was the story of a talkative, red-haired
orphan, Anne Shirley. She has big green-grey eyes and a narrow,
freckled face. Matthew Cuthbert and his sister, Marilla, have adopted
her from an orphanage in Nova Scotia. The book, which was aimed at a
general audience of adults and children, became hugely popular,
although The New York Times critic (July 18, 1908) stated:
"...there is no real difference between the girl at the end of the
story and the one at the beginning of it. All the other characters in
the book are human enough." Mark Twain wrote in 1908 to Montgomery to
praise "Anne" as "the dearest and most moving and delightful child
since the immortal Alice." The sequels followed Anne's life from
childhood to adulthood – she marries Gilbert Blythe, a doctor,
loses her first child but her life is then fulfilled with the birth of
Little Jem. The idyllic landscape of Prince Edward Island is an essential part of
the narrative and forms a contrast to the hardships of the characters. "I
am thankful above all else," she wrote in her journal in 1908, "for my
love of nature and my capacity for finding fullness of joy in her
companionship." (L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s), edited by Rita Bode and Jean Mitchell, 2018, p. 3) The initial volume has been filmed several times, adapted
for stage and translated into some 40 languages. "The war is at least extending my knowledge of geography," Montgomery put in her diary after the outbreak of WWI. (L.M. Montgomery and War, edited by Andrea McKenzie and Jane Ledwell, 2017, p. 42) Only a few of her short stories and poems touched the war. In September 1918 she went to se D.W. Griffith's propaganda film Hearts of the World because her half-brother Carl was in a battle scene. Montgomery's success was shadowed by a nine-year dispute with her
publisher and her husband's bouts of melancholy. "Looking back over his
attacks I find that they have always come on suddenly when he was
disappointed or homesick," Montgomery wrote in her diary on April 12,
1921. "Evidently his disappointment and loneliness were repressed into
his subconscious mind and began playing tricks with his nerves, as
psycho-analysis has recently discovered such things do." In 1925 the
family moved to Norval, near Toronto, and then in 1935, after her
husband's retirement, to Toronto. Anne of Ingleside (1939), the last volume in the Anne series, reflected Montgomery's disappointments in life. During the late 1930s Montgomery suffered a breakdown, and remained despondent until her death on April 24, in 1942. She left 10 volumes of personal diaries (1889-1942), whose publication began in 1985. The material, which was frank in many ways, was intended for those who would later became her biographers. According to Kate Macdonald Butler, the granddaughter of author, Montgomery actually committed suicide by taking an overdose of drugs. Montgomery wrote several collections of stories and two books for adults. Her other series characters include Emily, who appeared in three novels, and Pat, who was in two novels. Montgomery's heroines are frequently motherless, but adventurous, imaginative and determined. "I have made up my mind that I will never marry. I shall be wedded to my art," says Emily in Emily Climbs (1924). Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables has a fiery temperament, to do with her red hair. When she marries Gilbert, she abandons her career as a teacher and is often in an irritable mood. "It's all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it's not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?" Montgomery wrote. After becoming tired of Anne, Montgomery created Emily Byrd Starr, who has dark hair and loves nature and loves to write. Anne's imagination leads her into conflict with her surroundings, but Emily uses her imagination to compose poems and stories. In the third part, Emily's Quest (1927), she publishes her first book, is confused by reviews, which are conflicting, and marries Teddy Kent, an artist. For further reading: Reflections on Our Relationships with Anne of Green Gables: Kindred Spirits, edited by Jessica Carniel and Nike Sulway (2021); L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s), edited by Rita Bode and Jean Mitchell (2018); The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables: The Enchanting Island That Inspired L. M. Montgomery by Catherine Reid (2018); L.M. Montgomery and War, edited by Andrea McKenzie and Jane Ledwell (2017); Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings by Mary Rubio (2008); Lucy Maud Montgomery Album by Kevin McCabe and Alexandra Heilbron (1999); L. M. Montgomery & Canadian Culture, edited by Irene Gammel & Elizabeth Epperly (1999); Anne's World, Maud's World: The Sacred Sites of L.M. Montgomery by Nancy Rootland (1998); Writing a Life: L.M. Montgomery by Mary Rubio, Elizabeth Waterston (1995); The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly (1992); L.M. Montgomery, edited by J.R. Sorfleet (1976); The Wheel of Things by M. Gillen (1975); The Years Before Anne by F.W.P. Bolger (1974); The Story of L.M. Montgomery by H.M. Ridley (1956) - Museums: Anne of Green Gables Museum, Box 491, Kensington, Prince Edward Island - House where L.M. Montgomery spent much of her childhood. Green Gables, Cavendish, Prince Edward Island - Montgomery's neighbour's house, which is 'Green Gables' in her novels. Selected works:
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