Abstract
This paper provides an overview of L.M. Montgomery’s literary friendship with her Scottish pen friend, George Boyd MacMillan, and considers how their compatibility was grounded in the writers they read and loved, a bond which was acknowledged with a dedication to MacMillan in Emily of New Moon. This paper will explore an epistolary conversation they launched from verses they exchanged and identify favoured books that MacMillan sent to her as gifts.
Highlights
Montgomery’s literary friendship with her Scottish pen friend, George Boyd MacMillan, and considers how their compatibility was grounded in the writers they read and loved, a bond which was acknowledged with a dedication to MacMillan in Emily of New Moon
Montgomery was a prolific letter writer and letter reader. Her most extensive letters were sent to her friend in Scotland, George Boyd MacMillan
MacMillan responded to her declaration of kinship by sending her postcards during his holidays from literary landmarks such as Doune Castle from Scott’s Waverly2 and the birthplace of Robert Burns: “Really, the word ‘Ayr’ at the top of your last letter gave me a thrill!”3 Montgomery responded
Summary
Montgomery wanted their conversation to be open and candid: “You may ask me any question you wish on any subject and I will answer as freely and frankly as there may be light in me to do.” MacMillan wrote in this spirit from the very beginning. In that same happiness/duty letter she revealed that her successful and well-liked minister was going to Scotland, and said, “we are all very sorry he is going away.” If MacMillan was adept at reading between the lines, he might have considered that the male friend who argued for duty and the well-liked minister were one and the same Before she wrote her letter, Montgomery became engaged to the minister, Rev. Macdonald, on 12 October 1906, and he left Prince Edward Island soon afterward, arriving about 28 October to study in Glasgow, Scotland, about seventy kilometres (forty miles) away from MacMillan. That is the problem I’ve been butting up against all my life.”49 Her letter in spring of 1907 began with a brief mention and dismissal of “Lost Love.” She answered his questions on friendship versus love, success of marriage between unlike partners, her experience with infatuation (citing Herman Leard and Edwin Simpson), and qualities of attraction. It was far too short a time to share with her friend, but Montgomery held on to those memories with great affection over the years.
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