the Portico
“Our mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promoted pride and commitment within the University Community.”A rare book discovery and a leap of faith
It has been said that the power of the written word is a great force that can play a strong role in shaping perception, culture and lives. For Benjamin Lefebvre, MA’02, the work of acclaimed Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery has influenced his career path.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that L.M. Montgomery changed my life,” says Lefebvre, a U of G English literature grad who is now a visiting scholar at both the University of Worcester near London, England, and the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island. “She has certainly had a radical effect on my career.”
Lefebvre has been a fan of Montgomery’s since first watching Road to Avonlea on CBC in the 1990s, but a rare find in the University of Guelph library archives shone a spotlight on his dedication to advancing the late author’s work.
Lefebvre has edited Montgomery’s latest book, The Blythes Are Quoted, and takes pride in knowing he is sharing a story that almost went untold.
“The tone is drastically different from what most readers expect of Montgomery,” he says, adding that the manuscript was apparently dropped off to her publisher the day of her death in April 1942. “She weaves in stories about adultery, illegitimacy, hatred, revenge and murder. These elements aren’t wholly absent in her earlier work, but they are usually pushed to the margins. In this book, they take centre stage.”
The Blythes Are Quoted was released in October after sitting dormant in the U of G archives. A previous version of the manuscript was released as The Road to Yesterday in 1974, but Lefebvre’s research revealed that the essence of the material had been edited so dramatically that it was almost unrecognizable.
“When I discovered that the original typescript contained far more material than I had imagined, and that there were two earlier typescript versions, I knew this was a project that had to be done,” he says.
With a fervour that only a die-hard literature fan can understand, Lefebvre took a leap of faith by transferring his master’s studies from Montreal to Guelph in 1999.
“L.M. Montgomery is unique as a Canadian writer because her work spills over so many categories simultaneously,” says Lefebvre. “She was a writer who sold her work fairly successfully for half a century — her publication in leading periodicals extends from 1890 to 1940. Montgomery’s books reflect a slice of Canadian life during a time of profound social change. Her work has inspired a range of films, television programs, plays, tourist sites, commodity industries and websites. She and her work are both classic and current, traditional and contemporary.”
In The Blythes Are Quoted, Montgomery rewrites her characters and makes Anne a poet, says Lefebvre. Montgomery weaves in 41 of her own poems and assigns the bulk of them to Anne, who apparently wrote these at various stages of her life — at the death of Matthew Cuthbert, while teaching school in Avonlea, attending university in Kingsport and on the eve of her wedding to Gilbert. “Montgomery is adding to Anne's personality and to what we know about Anne’s life and creativity.”
Lefebvre admits it took a long time to find a publisher forbook. He says several editors were intrigued by the manuscript when they read it, but perceived Montgomery to be a children’s writer and didn’t believe the book would appeal to children.
In Lefebvre’s view, calling Montgomery a children’s writer is too narrow a label. While some of her best-known books, including Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, are about child characters, most of her books are primarily about older adolescents and adults. “What sets Montgomery apart from other writers,” Lefebvre says, “is the fact that her popularity has endured with readers of all ages, genders, and locations. Her readers have always included both adults and children.
“Montgomery got a lot of flack toward the end of her career for refusing to keep up with literary trends and shifting notions of realism. Now, the writers and critics who disparaged her are forgotten for the most part, and she remains a writer whose work has endured and will continue to endure as new generations of readers discover her.”
By Rebecca Kendall
