Anne of Green Gables joins The Modern Library
Anne Shirley has taken her place among some of the most well-known literary characters of all time, including Tom Sawyer, Jane Eyre and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has been published as part Random House’s The Modern Library, a collection of the world’s great literary works that was first assembled in the early 1900s.
Rebecca Shapiro of Random House is part of the group that meets monthly to consider new entries for the series.
“It’s a really nice indication that the book is very much part of a literary canon,” said Shapiro.
“The Modern Library is one of the most respected classics collections, I think, out there. So for a title to be included, it’s a nice sort of indication of its status as a classic.”
Shapiro said the choice was made in part to celebrate this year’s 100th anniversary of the book’s original publication.
The selection is not without controversy. Some critics describe the book as a poor example of Victorian sentimentalit, and see its selection as caving in to nostalgia.
Selection defended
“To some people this canonical promotion of a writer, who would probably now be classified as a kind of young adult writer, might seem preposterous, or slightly making too large a claim for the book itself,” said Meghan O’Rourke, literary critic for the online magazine Slate.
But O’Rourke defends the selection.
“Think what Montgomery did for women’s imaginative lives, their sense of imaginative autonomy,” said O’Rourke.
“She did something that very few writers have done for girls.”
In the past century, Anne of Green Gables has been published in 33 languages; Montgomery wrote seven sequels, and a prequel was recently published with the consent of her heirs. There have been two movies for the big screen, six for television and three television series
Anne’s inclusion on the list could make her even more widely known that she is already, as The Modern Library books are often included on reading lists in high schools, colleges and universities around the world.
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