Another interesting article, thanks
Bookpossum. I wonder if Margaret Atwood “has got mellow” too? I thought Anne came out relatively unscathed, as measured on the Atwood scale.
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Originally Posted by issybird
I see Margaret Atwood agrees with some of us about the unlikelihood that Anne would have transcended her early life as she did!
Most interesting to me (since I think in fact we’re all on the same page as Atwood) is the list of reasons for Anne’s appeal to Japanese readers. I think they’re largely incidentals, though, and miss the heart of it. I suspect for Japanese girls even more so than Anglophone girls the appeal was the dichotomy of Anne’s early independence of mind and spirit, all the while knowing that she’d end up in a traditional life. Reality looms, but for a while we can keep it at bay in our imaginations.
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I found her reasons for the Japanese affinity with Anne interesting too. Good point - Anne’s early independent spirit must have great appeal for girls in a such a reserved society, with such strict traditional gender roles. That said, I can see how Anne’s shared aesthetic and reverence for nature would resonate quite deeply across the culture too.
I agreed with Atwood point about Marilla’s development over the story vs Anne’s. That struck me reading it this time too.