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The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance
Anne of Green Gables may be the most famous Canadian literary character ever created. She has captured the imagination of young girls around the world, and her popularity shows no sign of diminishing. But Anne Shirley is only the best known of the memorable heroines created by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a group that includes Emily Byrd Starr, Valancy Stirling, and Pat Gardiner. These characters are at the centre of Elizabeth Rollins Epperly's book, the first full-length critical study of all L.M. Montgomery's fiction.
Epperly argues that the strength of the novels lies in their descriptions of nature, the comic interplay of eccentrics and children, and above all the heroines. She points out that Montgomery was a master of the genre of romance, a skill she honed in hundreds of short stories aimed at a specific market. But her heroines reveal a much more complex relationship with the genre. Each one's struggle to establish individual identity is at odds with the conventions of romance. So is the powerful love of home that drives each of them. The expectations of romance readers are confounded, and yet, in the end, the happy endings fulfil the romance formula.
Through her use of literary allusions, repetitions, irony, and comic inversions, Montgomery deftly works with and against the literary convention of which she is in total command. As Epperly demonstrates, Montgomery's place in the Canadian canon arises not simply from the affection in which the world holds Anne, but from her creator's mastery of her craft.
Epperly argues that the strength of the novels lies in their descriptions of nature, the comic interplay of eccentrics and children, and above all the heroines. She points out that Montgomery was a master of the genre of romance, a skill she honed in hundreds of short stories aimed at a specific market. But her heroines reveal a much more complex relationship with the genre. Each one's struggle to establish individual identity is at odds with the conventions of romance. So is the powerful love of home that drives each of them. The expectations of romance readers are confounded, and yet, in the end, the happy endings fulfil the romance formula.
Through her use of literary allusions, repetitions, irony, and comic inversions, Montgomery deftly works with and against the literary convention of which she is in total command. As Epperly demonstrates, Montgomery's place in the Canadian canon arises not simply from the affection in which the world holds Anne, but from her creator's mastery of her craft.
285 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1992
About the author
Elizabeth Rollins Epperly
16 books11 followersElizabeth Rollins Epperly is a writer, professor, and administrator.
She was born in 1951 on her mother’s birthday in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Her parents were passionate readers and read aloud for years to their children. A fascination with L.M. Montgomery’s writing led her to Prince Edward Island in Canada, where she became in 1969 the first student to register at the newly amalgamated University of Prince Edward Island.
She graduated with degrees in English literature (B.A., UPEI; M.A., Dalhousie University; Ph.D., University of London in England), specializing in 19th Century British novels and poetry. She taught at Memorial University of Newfoundland and UPEI. At UPEI, she founded the L.M. Montgomery Institute, served as UPEI’s first woman president, and became Professor Emerita of English.
She published two books on Anthony Trollope before daring, in 1992, to publish The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass, the first full-length critical study of all Montgomery’s novels. Never out of print, it was reissued with a new preface in 2014. The biennial international L. M. Montgomery Institute conferences, which she began in 1994, are credited with anchoring Montgomery studies.
In addition to dozens of essays and book chapters, she has published books on Montgomery’s photography, scrapbooks, letters, and Canadian context. She has served as curator for real-time and virtual exhibitions and has pursued Montgomery research in Sweden, Japan, Spain, Scotland, and China as well as in the US and Canada.
Power Notes, a creative non-fiction narrative describing her university presidency (to be published in 2017), is an invitation to consider power and story in new ways.
She was born in 1951 on her mother’s birthday in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Her parents were passionate readers and read aloud for years to their children. A fascination with L.M. Montgomery’s writing led her to Prince Edward Island in Canada, where she became in 1969 the first student to register at the newly amalgamated University of Prince Edward Island.
She graduated with degrees in English literature (B.A., UPEI; M.A., Dalhousie University; Ph.D., University of London in England), specializing in 19th Century British novels and poetry. She taught at Memorial University of Newfoundland and UPEI. At UPEI, she founded the L.M. Montgomery Institute, served as UPEI’s first woman president, and became Professor Emerita of English.
She published two books on Anthony Trollope before daring, in 1992, to publish The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass, the first full-length critical study of all Montgomery’s novels. Never out of print, it was reissued with a new preface in 2014. The biennial international L. M. Montgomery Institute conferences, which she began in 1994, are credited with anchoring Montgomery studies.
In addition to dozens of essays and book chapters, she has published books on Montgomery’s photography, scrapbooks, letters, and Canadian context. She has served as curator for real-time and virtual exhibitions and has pursued Montgomery research in Sweden, Japan, Spain, Scotland, and China as well as in the US and Canada.
Power Notes, a creative non-fiction narrative describing her university presidency (to be published in 2017), is an invitation to consider power and story in new ways.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 12, 2020
Although I have indeed found The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance both insightful and often very much intellectually enlightening, personally (as well as from an intellectual and academic point of departure) I also really do not tend to believe that Lucy Maud Montgomery's oeuvre is to be simply seen (and like author Elizabeth Rollins Epperly does in my opinion seem to strongly claim and insinuate) as the pursuit of romance, that basically all or at least most of Montgomery's heroines have first and foremost love and marriage in mind.
For while love is of course and indeed important in and to L.M. Montgomery's writing (and as such of course also to and for her diverse heroines), I for one have actually never really thought that romance is or should be considered the be all and end all of Montgomery's fiction in general, because indeed, from where I stand and have always been standing, while romantic love and affection might well and to a certain point be the fuel that fires much of the Anne of Green Gables series, I certainly DO NOT consider this to be all that much the case with regard to for example L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon novels, where Emily Byrd Starr’s only striving to become a writer but also to become accepted by both her family and society as a writer in my opinion absolutely and massively trump everything else, including Emily's romantic interests and considerations (I mean, even though at the end of Emily's Quest, Emily Byrd Starr and Teddy Kent are engaged to be married, for me, that Emily has finally had her novel published and by a very prestigious publishing house at that, this is, always has been and always will be more important and essential than the former, than Emily and Teddy finally appearing as a couple).
And furthermore, while I have certainly found Elizabeth Rollins Epperly's musings in The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance regarding Jane Stuart and Patricia Gardiner (from Jane of Lantern Hill and the two Pat of Silver Bush novels) interesting and do indeed also agree with her assessment that Patricia Gardiner's extremism with regard to her attachment to Silver Bush is not all that healthy, is actually strange and almost problematically pathological, I also do not really consider either Jane or Pat as being pursuant of romance (unless I were to take their love of home as a replacement for romantic and people oriented affection, which I guess I could, but no, I will not, as doing so would both feel a bit strange and yes, its would certainly tarnish my love of Jane of Lantern Hill if I were to consider Lantern Hill as an entity to which Jane Stuart is romantically linked and attached). Therefore, while I do agree with Elizabeth Rollins Epperly that romance and the pursuit thereof is important and often present in the writing of L.M. Montgomery, I personally do NOT in fact consider it as essential to and for L.M. Montgomery's oeuvre and yes almost forsaking everything else as the author tries to demonstrate in and with The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance.
For while love is of course and indeed important in and to L.M. Montgomery's writing (and as such of course also to and for her diverse heroines), I for one have actually never really thought that romance is or should be considered the be all and end all of Montgomery's fiction in general, because indeed, from where I stand and have always been standing, while romantic love and affection might well and to a certain point be the fuel that fires much of the Anne of Green Gables series, I certainly DO NOT consider this to be all that much the case with regard to for example L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon novels, where Emily Byrd Starr’s only striving to become a writer but also to become accepted by both her family and society as a writer in my opinion absolutely and massively trump everything else, including Emily's romantic interests and considerations (I mean, even though at the end of Emily's Quest, Emily Byrd Starr and Teddy Kent are engaged to be married, for me, that Emily has finally had her novel published and by a very prestigious publishing house at that, this is, always has been and always will be more important and essential than the former, than Emily and Teddy finally appearing as a couple).
And furthermore, while I have certainly found Elizabeth Rollins Epperly's musings in The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance regarding Jane Stuart and Patricia Gardiner (from Jane of Lantern Hill and the two Pat of Silver Bush novels) interesting and do indeed also agree with her assessment that Patricia Gardiner's extremism with regard to her attachment to Silver Bush is not all that healthy, is actually strange and almost problematically pathological, I also do not really consider either Jane or Pat as being pursuant of romance (unless I were to take their love of home as a replacement for romantic and people oriented affection, which I guess I could, but no, I will not, as doing so would both feel a bit strange and yes, its would certainly tarnish my love of Jane of Lantern Hill if I were to consider Lantern Hill as an entity to which Jane Stuart is romantically linked and attached). Therefore, while I do agree with Elizabeth Rollins Epperly that romance and the pursuit thereof is important and often present in the writing of L.M. Montgomery, I personally do NOT in fact consider it as essential to and for L.M. Montgomery's oeuvre and yes almost forsaking everything else as the author tries to demonstrate in and with The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance.
April 28, 2008
Definitely very interesting, although I don't always agree with every point (I think I'm a little more forgiving in some places - and a little less in others - in regards to how much of a modern feminist viewpoint we can impose on our readings of these books).
An awful lot of the book is devoted to the Anne series though. Which, okay, makes sense since they are Montgomery's most widely read books, but they're just not my favorites (apart from Anne's House of Dreams and Rilla of Ingleside which are awesomeness). So for me personally, I would've liked a bit more time devoted to her other books - particularly The Blue Castle, which was barely touched on. Again, personal bias, as that's my favorite, but I do also really think that Valancy is an interesting heroine and that it would be worth looking at her in more depth.
But the section on the Emily books was really excellent and really interesting, especially in talking about Emily's relationship with Dean.
Oh, and also the comparison of the Pat books and Jane of Lantern Hill and the differences in how love of home is presented. Glad it's not just me who found Pat's love of home - and blindness to everything else in the world - to be hella depressing.
Oh, and also...and, okay, the whole book was just super interesting. Very glad to have read it.
An awful lot of the book is devoted to the Anne series though. Which, okay, makes sense since they are Montgomery's most widely read books, but they're just not my favorites (apart from Anne's House of Dreams and Rilla of Ingleside which are awesomeness). So for me personally, I would've liked a bit more time devoted to her other books - particularly The Blue Castle, which was barely touched on. Again, personal bias, as that's my favorite, but I do also really think that Valancy is an interesting heroine and that it would be worth looking at her in more depth.
But the section on the Emily books was really excellent and really interesting, especially in talking about Emily's relationship with Dean.
Oh, and also the comparison of the Pat books and Jane of Lantern Hill and the differences in how love of home is presented. Glad it's not just me who found Pat's love of home - and blindness to everything else in the world - to be hella depressing.
Oh, and also...and, okay, the whole book was just super interesting. Very glad to have read it.
November 23, 2008
This was a look at the writing, style, and characters of Lucy Maud Montgomery's heroines. Strong on Anne and Emily of course, but touches on every novel.
I now have a better understanding of why I dislike Anne of Avonlea so much, and Epperly does a nice job tying in a lot of threads that I didn't know about before, such as Emily's similarities to 'Aurora Leigh' (novel-poem) and Jane Eyre.
A quick read, it made me want to re-read all of the LMM books and journals.
I now have a better understanding of why I dislike Anne of Avonlea so much, and Epperly does a nice job tying in a lot of threads that I didn't know about before, such as Emily's similarities to 'Aurora Leigh' (novel-poem) and Jane Eyre.
A quick read, it made me want to re-read all of the LMM books and journals.
October 31, 2010
Epperly is one of founding academics to Montgomery studies and I can't even count the number of times I've used this book in my own research.
This book is structured in a very accessible way for future reading (almost reference style) and Epperly is an accomplished writer.
A necessity for any serious fan of Anne and LM Montgomery.
This book is structured in a very accessible way for future reading (almost reference style) and Epperly is an accomplished writer.
A necessity for any serious fan of Anne and LM Montgomery.
October 11, 2016
A wonderful, very insightful and interesting book that adds context and interpretation to Montgomery's novels. I especially loved the chapters about the Emily books.
June 28, 2010
A scholarly, psychological look at the approaches Maud Montgomery used in writing her books. Not a fast read, but very readable with some interesting perspectives.
October 12, 2019
Glad that one of my favorite childhood authors is the subject of academic study more than a century after she published her first book.
June 19, 2017
Having found this in a bookstore in Summerside, PEI after visiting every LMM site on the island, I finally picked up a copy and finished it in days. As another reviewer said, the Emily chapters are the strongest and most interesting, and it's helpful to have the relevance of the literary allusions in the novels explained and the novels compared. I also found the chapter on Rainbow Valley enlightening as I didn't realize LMM wrote it during WWI.
While some common themes are brought out throughout the book, I think a chapter summarizing them would have added to the analysis. For instance, LMM's three major heroines, Anne, Emily & Pat take years to recognize who they love and then to marry him; why this is and how it reflects LMM's own situation would be a welcome addition. But then there is always more to analyze in any book.
Reading this literary analysis makes me wonder what LMM would have written had she completely thrown convention--and commercial appeal--aside and written the way she really wanted to write.
While some common themes are brought out throughout the book, I think a chapter summarizing them would have added to the analysis. For instance, LMM's three major heroines, Anne, Emily & Pat take years to recognize who they love and then to marry him; why this is and how it reflects LMM's own situation would be a welcome addition. But then there is always more to analyze in any book.
Reading this literary analysis makes me wonder what LMM would have written had she completely thrown convention--and commercial appeal--aside and written the way she really wanted to write.
March 4, 2018
This book is the foundation of scholarship on L.M. Montgomery and her writing. I can not offer critical comment on the arguments presented in this book, as I have not read all of the works by Montgomery that Epperly analyzes. Nevertheless, I found this work to be easily accessible. Epperly establishes Montgomery as a sophisticated author of literature and presents an analysis of the Montgomery's heroines relationship to romance, both in general usage and as a literary mode. In so doing, Epperly puts Montgomery's work in dialogue with other literary works, as well as feminism, to elevate their evaluation as cultural and literary texts. I look forward to returning to this volume after I have broadened my familairity with Montgomery's extensive cannon.
August 3, 2011
I read this book one summer when I was in highschool and when I finished it I thought, "wow, I just read a book of literary criticism for fun." It is beautifully written and very readable.
I loved the insights the book offered and the discussions about Montgomery's influences. I reread her books looking for new things and never again thought the same way about the Emily books...particularly Teddy's mother.
I loved the insights the book offered and the discussions about Montgomery's influences. I reread her books looking for new things and never again thought the same way about the Emily books...particularly Teddy's mother.
September 6, 2014
I enjoyed reading these essays, especially the chapter examining EMILY CLIMBS. Obviously the Anne books are the most well-known of Montgomery's works, yet this book gave them an inordinate amount of space. I wish some of the real estate of this book had been given up from Anne and given over to other novels, like A TANGLED WEB or THE STORYGIRL.
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August 2, 2018I loved this book! The sectional on Emily was particularly well done. I kept nodding my head because everything I felt to be true about her was confirmed and put into words for me by the author. Excellent read.
Currently reading
October 5, 2008Wonderful book so far... i love Epperly's books :)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews