Abstract
This essay explores the intertextual connections between Anne of Green Gables and several contemporary Canadian children’s novels that feature heroines who resemble the iconic Anne. Drawing on the theoretical work of Mikhail Bakhtin, it argues that Anne’s power as an intertextual figure lies in her "dialogic imagination" and the atypical artistry through which she expresses it.
Highlights
Understanding how the above-mentioned heroines resemble the Anne-girl, involves theorizing the nature of Anne’s artistry and the “myth”13 it creates
This essay explores the intertextual connections between Anne of Green Gables and several contemporary Canadian children’s novels that feature heroines who resemble the iconic Anne
“The story,” Elizabeth Waterston observes, “is open-ended: Anne contemplates a bend in the road and affirms the possibility of a change around that bend.”17 The redhead resigns herself to staying home at Green Gables, but she does so with the acknowledgement that her circumstances can, and likely will, undergo transformation
Summary
Understanding how the above-mentioned heroines resemble the Anne-girl, involves theorizing the nature of Anne’s artistry and the “myth” it creates. “Myths,” philosophers George Lakoff and Mark Johnson observe, “provide ways of comprehending experience; they give order to our lives.” Developing Rubio’s observation, I suggest that Anne’s myth, as presented in Anne of Green Gables (1908), is the personal philosophy that gives structure to her life story. This philosophy, which underlies her artistic vision, gives order to people’s lives through its emphasis on the role imagination plays in shaping human experience; it highlights the ever-present opportunity for personal and social transformation. Anne’s last thoughts want “to be heard, understood, and ‘answered’ by other voices from other positions.” Montgomery locates the redhead’s future, not in the text, but in the reader’s imagination
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