Announcing Anne’s World

I’m pleased to announce that Anne’s World: A New Century of Anne of Green Gables, a collection of essays edited by Irene Gammel and me, will be published by University of Toronto Press in June 2010. Bookended by an introduction by Irene Gammel and an afterword by by Richard Cavell, the volume contains chapters by Ranbir K. Banwait, Alison Matthews David, Irene Gammel, Carole Gerson, Helen Hoy, Huifeng Hu, Benjamin Lefebvre, Alexander MacLeod, Leslie McGrath, Mary Jeanette Moran, Jason Nolan, Andrew O’Malley, Margaret Steffler, and Kimberly Wahl.

For contents, praise, and ordering information, see the main page for Anne’s World: A New Century of Anne of Green Gables.

Synopsis

The recent 100-year anniversary of the first publication of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has inspired renewed interest in one of Canada’s most beloved fictional icons. The international appeal of the red-haired orphan has not diminished over the past century, and the cultural meaning of her story continues to grow and change. The original essays in Anne’s World offer fresh and timely approaches to issues of culture, identity, health, and globalization as they apply to Montgomery’s famous character and to today’s readers.

In conversation with each other and with the work of previous experts, the contributors to Anne’s World discuss topics as diverse as Anne in fashion, the global industry surrounding Anne, the novel’s use as a tool to counteract depression, and the possibility that Anne suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Anne in translation and its adaptation for film and television are also considered. By establishing new ways to examine one of popular culture’s favourite characters, the essays of Anne’s World demonstrate the timeless and ongoing appeal of L.M. Montgomery’s writing.

Irene Gammel is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Modern Literature and Culture in the Department of English at Ryerson University.

Benjamin Lefebvre has held postdoctoral visiting fellowships at the University of Alberta, the University of Worcester, and the University of Prince Edward Island.