Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1185317 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
Irene Gammel Professor of English at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Customer Reviews

An Interesting & Entertaining Read
I am a big fan of Anne of Green Gables. This is a great compilation of essays which discuss different issues of the Anne phenomenon and L.M.M. I found it really interesting to learn about the ways the books/movies impacted the world, like the popularity in Japan so much so that there's a Green Gables Theme Park there! The involvement of Disney in the movies and Road to Avonlea series and the way Canada and Disney approached their advertising etc in their respective countries was very surprising to me. I thought Anne was all Canadian! Other essays talk about Anne and Diana and hidden lesbian desire in L.M.M.'s books and another on descriptions of the island being erotic. (I personally don't agree with either of these thoughts and thought they were too over-the-top). Overall an interesting read. A lot of the essays seemed too detailed for me, as I'm just a general fan and not studying it for school or something like that. So I skimmed a lot. Overall a nice book for the general Anne fan but more appropriate for someone who really wants to analyze it.