Anne of Green Gables Roundup

In this Newsweek article about the 100th anniversary of the publication of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, journalist Ramin Setoodeh deplores the sorry state of children's literature today (in a lame "these kids today" move if ever I saw one) and Trinna Frever, an Anne scholar, asserts that "literary smart girls" show up in modern kidlit as sidekicks not heroines, a remark that is causing a bit of a fuss in the kidlit blogs.

In Slate, Meghan O'Rourke claims that Anne is finally getting "her due" because the venerable Modern Library is putting out an 100th anniversary edition. In this piece, O'Rourke seems almost to invent criticisms of the book as not feminist enough (without naming any of the critics who've apparently said as much) in order to refute them. And Jezebel echoes O'Rourke, wondering too if Anne doesn't get the respect she deserves simply because she's a girl.  Here in Canada, Anne is definitely considered a classic on par with Twain's Huck and Tom. If she isn't getting the same kind of reverence in the states (and I'm not at all sure she isn't), I wonder if the problem is simply because she isn't an American.

These are just a couple of the press appearances Anne of Green Gables has been making this summer. Kate, of Kate's Book Blog, is keeping track of them here.

Comments

[Kate C.]

We may not be an statistically diverse sample but my friends and I grew up on Anne and love, love, love her. Hell, I named one of my daughters after Anne's alter ego. ;)

[Anu]

Growing up in India, Anne of Green Gables was one of my most favorite books and I've read it many times over. I've read most of the other books in the series too, though my interest dwindled after Anne became all grown up and boring. Anne of the Island was my other favorite. PEI and Nova Scotia seemed like such mythical places to me, it came as a shock to realize that they were in Canada.

[kittenpie]

No smart heroines? Hell, for those set in Victorian times (like Anne) alone, we've got Mabel Riley, Enola Homes, Gemma Doyle... And then the fantasy world is full of them, with Diane Duane's wizard books, Tamora Pierce and her whole catalogue, and so on. And there are lots of smart girl detectives. Plus plucky girl historical fiction heroines like Charlotte Doyle and most of Karen Cushman's characters... Oh, jeez. That's a stupid comment. Sounding like it's made by someone who just doesn't read good stuff, if you ask me.