Epperly, Elizabeth Rollins. The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.
Author: Epperly, Elizabeth Rollins
Book title: The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Date: 1992
Type: Book-length study
Subsequent edition: Paperback edition, 1993
Synopsis
Anne Shirley is the best known of a memorable group of 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 Epperly’s book, the first full-length critical study of all L.M. Montgomery’s fiction.
Epperly contends that Montgomery was a master of the romance genre, and through her use of literary allusions, repetitions, irony, and comic inversions she deftly manipulated the normal conventions of romance novels. By studying the fictional biographies of the heroines and their pursuit of romance, Epperly questions the ways romance shapes what we consider valuable in our imaginings and experience.
A book written for L.M. Montgomery fans and scholars.
Contents
Acknowledgments (ix)
Abbreviations (x)
Introduction (3–14)
Part I: Anne
Romancing the Voice: Anne of Green Gables (17–38)
Romance Awry: Anne of Avonlea (39–55)
Recognition: Anne of the Island (56–74)
“This Enchanted Shore”: Anne’s House of Dreams (75–94)
Heroism’s Childhood: Rainbow Valley (95–111)
Womanhood and War: Rilla of Ingleside (112–30)
Recapturing the Anne World: Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne of Ingleside (131–42)
Part II: Emily (143–8)
The Struggle for Voice: Emily of New Moon (149–67)
Testing the Voice: Emily Climbs (168–81)
Love and Career: Emily’s Quest (182–207)
Part III: The Other Heroines
Romancing the Home: Pat of Silver Bush, Mistress Pat, Jane of Lantern Hill (211–27)
A Changing Heroism: An Overview of the Other Novels (228–48)
Epilogue (249–50)
Notes (251–60)
Works Cited (261–6)
Index (267–75)
Reviews
Arsenault, Lisa. Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1992, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, 263. Toronto: CBRA, 1993.
Duffy, Dennis. “The Tenuous Talents of Our Hometown Hero.” Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly. Compass: A Jesuit Journal, September–October 1992, 40–2.
Grauer, Lalage. Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly. University of Toronto Quarterly 64, no. 1 (Winter 1994): 202–3.
Ross, Catherine Sheldrick. “Lucy & John.” Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly; The Borders of Nightmare: The Fiction of John Richardson, by Michael Hurley. Canadian Literature 138–139 (Autumn–Winter 1993): 153–5.
Rubio, Jennie. “The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: New Readings of L.M. Montgomery.” Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly. Essays on Canadian Writing 55 (Spring 1995): 161–8.
Scotto, Barbara. Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly. Wilson Library Bulletin, October 1992, 100–1.
Wiggins, Genevieve. Review of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery’s Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance, by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly. The American Review of Canadian Studies 23, no. 3 (Autumn 1993): 460–2.