Nora Young’s planning something on Anne’s Diary and biometric scanning: Spark | CBC Radio Anne’s Diary: What Do You Think? Just thought you’d like to know. I’m just finishing my chapter for Ben’s project that discusses the site.
Ben pointed me to this nugget: Twilight Author Inspired by Anne
One of the current bestseller phenomenon’s is the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. The series has grabbed the attention of young female readers in particular (something in common with the books of LMM) and led to a major new motion picture. What would be the common thread between the Anne series and a romance series about vampires? According to Meyer:
”The series influenced how my series turned out. Because I was never a fan of the stories where everything ends and they kiss at the wedding. Anne of Green Gable started out with her as a child, she had a very fully described adolescence, she had a book-long engagement, we got to see her wedding, we got to see her have her first child and lose her first child, we got to see her children grow up. We got the whole life, and I loved that.’
Showing one more link to anne and the undead. 
globeandmail.com: The heartbreaking truth about Anne’s creator
Despite her great success, it is known that she suffered from depression, that she was isolated, sad and filled with worry and dread for much of her life. But our family has never spoken publicly about the extent of her illness.
What has never been revealed is that L.M. Montgomery took her own life at the age of 67 through a drug overdose.
I wasn’t told the details of what happened, and I never saw the note she left, but I do know that it asked for forgiveness.
After having read the poignant Breakdown series on mental health in The Globe and Mail during the summer, I was inspired to reflect upon my own family’s history with depression.
Anne-mania goes global; Canada’s most famous literary export is being feted around the world
The Japanese, on the other hand, emphasize Anne’s almost mystical worship of nature and Montgomery’s lyrical descriptions of the Island because those aspects of the novel tie in with Shinto — the native religion of Japan, which includes a belief in spirits associated with a particular place.
There are other reasons Anne appeals to Japanese fans.
The Japanese translation was published in 1952, when the horrors of the Second World War were still fresh and there were many orphans.
Anne also provides a complex model of femininity that resonates for Japanese women, according to Irene Gammel, author of Looking for Anne: How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic. “Anne is tempestuous, she has outbursts. Yet at the same time she is a good girl.”
Constrained by traditional gender roles, Anne’s mostly female Japanese fans appreciate the way Montgomery’s heroine “negotiates with people living in a narrow minded community which reminds them of their own society,” notes Japanese-born, Toronto-based Yuka Kajihara, a founding member of the L.M. Montgomery Research Group.
Irene has put up photos from the Vancouver Exhibit. Mostly setting things up with JP, but it also includes a photo of me with Richard Cavell appreciating the posters.
I’ve just uploaded some pictures from the Anne of Green Gables at 100 symposium last week at the Congress in Vancouver organized by Irene Gammel and Ben Lefebvre.
I’m in vancouver to present my paper “Anne of the Undead: changeling child and the uncanny in Avonlea” at the Anne of Green Gables Panel at ACCUTE at Congress 2008, and I’m also helping out with Anne of Green Gables: A Literary Icon at 100: Exhibit Opening & Symposium.
Still exhausted from 16 hours of flight time (and 5 of waiting around) to get here…
I’ve updated L.M. Montgomery – a set on Flickr to include some shots of the The Centenary of Anne Green Gables showcase at Ryerson last Monday
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