Such a simple little tale: Critical Responses to L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables

by Mavis Reimer (Editor)

New in paperback 2003. Here is a compilation of the best critical essays on this enduring classic. Selections focus on the many perspectives from which Anne of Green Gables is viewed. Is it children's literature, or does it fit a different area of literary scholarship? Each of the articles breaks new ground in the literary criticism of Montgomery's book. Also included is a comprehensive bibliographic guide to the research and criticism of Anne, from the earliest reviews to the most recent essays. Contributors: Temma R. Berg, Susan Drain, Carol Gay, Nancy Huse, Susan Jackson, Eve Kornfeld, T.D. MacLulich, Perry Nodelman, Mavis Reimer, Catherine Ross, Mary Rubio, Marilyn Solt, Gillian Thomas, Janet Weiss-Townsend, and Muriel Whitaker.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Mavis Reimer is Canada Research Chair in the Culture of Childhood, director of the Centre for Research in Young People’s Texts and Cultures, and an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg. She is co-author with Perry Nodelman of the third edition of The Pleasures of Children’s Literature and editor of a collection of essays on Anne of Green Gables, entitled Such a Simple Little Tale.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly do not really understand why it is all that necessary for so very many literary critics and analysts to devote entire articles and essays to the question of whether L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, and in fact Montgomery's novels in general, are meant to be read primarily as children's or for the most part as adult reading fare, and mostly because I for one do not really think this consideration is all that essential and important in and of itself, that L.M. Montgomery's body of work should basically and simply be regarded and approached as something enjoyable for ALL READERS, both children and adults. And considering that for her collection of critical repsonses to L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, that for Such a Simple Little Tale, chief editor Mavis Reimer has focussed (according to her introduction) rather majorly and heavily on the former, on whether L.M. Montgomery was mostly writing for children or if her oeuvre was actually more adult reader oriented, I right from the very onset of my perusal of the articles contained in and chosen for Such a Simple Little Tale was approaching the featured texts with both trepidation and also rather expecting the worst so to speak, a trepidation that has also and frustratingly been rather justified and proven correct (well, at least for me personally) in many ways.

For while the included articles in Such a Simple Little Tale have mostly been interesting enough with regard to their general contents and how they interpret Anne Shirley as a character and the Anne novels as a series (and that I have indeed and definitely even very much also totally enjoyed a select few of them, such as for example Eva Kornfeld and Susan Jackson seeing the Anne of Green Gables series as a North American female Bildungsroman and Gillian Thomas' assessment of the later Anne books as exhibiting a serious and obvious decline in how Anne Shirley is described after L.M. Montgomery focusses more on Anne's children in Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley and even in Rilla of Ingleside), many of the articles to and for me do tend to feel rather forced and like the authors are actually rather desperately trying to make L.M. Montgomery's writing into something totally deeply philosophical and primarily suitable for adult readers and not really even meant for children anymore (and yes, I also kind of chafe at Muriel S. Whitaker calling L.M. Montgomery's heroines "queer children" and that Perry Nodelman seems to consider Anne Shirley as a Peter Pan like someone who lives in a utopia and refuses to grow up). Combined with the fact that the suggestions for further reading in Such a Simple Little Tale, while of course appreciated, also appear in a rather reader and researcher unfriendly and rambling format and not actually separated out into clear MLA-like lists, while I certainly have found Such a Simple Little Tale interesting and enlightening, I have also and definitely not been all that impressed with and by Mavis Reimer's choices as to which articles and which critics to include in Such a Simple Little Tale and have most certainly been more than a bit frustrated with and by how the bibliographies have been set up and presented.

[Elizabeth Lund]

Quick read; some ideas relevant to MHL; I always wish that Montgomery crit would cover her whole body of work more.

[Tinae Goodell, Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to read.

[Hugo Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start to reflect about Montgomery's work