LM Montgomery and the Alpine Path: Novels of Art and Becoming

Class Description

How does a girl with imagination, ambition, and intellect grow into a woman? While beloved for her idyllic portrayals of Prince Edward Island, L.M. Montgomery's fiction is driven by lifelong preoccupation with this very question. This eight-week seminar explores Montgomery's heroines through the critical lenses of the Bildungsroman (the novel of growth and development) and the Künstlerroman (the novel of the artist's formation).

We will trace the journey of the artist from Anne Shirley's “Story Club” to Emily Byrd Starr's all-consuming need to “write herself out.” Alongside these artist-heroines, we will analyze Montgomery’s novels of personal becoming, from the wartime maturation of Rilla of Ingleside to the quiet, desperate rebellion of The Blue Castle.

Dawn Sardella-Ayres received her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2016, and has published on Alcott, Montgomery, Wilder, and Johnston. Her critical work explores girls’ literature, specifically the girls’ bildungsroman in America and Canada as a distinct genre. She was the L.M. Montgomery Institute Research Associate for 2023-2024.

All virtual classes are recorded and made available to participants registered in the class. These recordings are password-protected and available for up to two weeks after the class ends.

What to Expect

Format: Virtual 

Class Capacity: 20 

Class Style: Mix of lecture and discussion; participation encouraged 

Materials List

Required

• Ebook bundle that includes the following books—$10 fee collected during registration. (You may also acquire physical copies yourself, but we are unable to stock them in the bookstore.)
  • L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. L. C. Page & Company, 1908. ISBN: 9780143131854
  • Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea. L. C. Page & Company, 1909. ISBN: 9781770497320
    
  • Montgomery, Anne of the Island. L. C. Page & Company, 1915. ISBN: 9781770497344
    
  • Montgomery, The Story Girl. L. C. Page & Company, 1911. ISBN: 9780553213669
    
  • Montgomery, The Golden Road. L. C. Page & Company, 1913. ISBN: 9780553213676
    
  • Montgomery, Emily of New Moon. L. C. Page & Company, 1923. ISBN: 9780553233704
    
  • Montgomery, Emily Climbs. L. C. Page & Company, 1925. ISBN: 9781770497498
    
  • Montgomery, Emily's Quest. L. C. Page & Company, 1927. ISBN: 9781770497511
    
  • Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams. L. C. Page & Company, 1917. ISBN: 9780245551307
    
  • Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside. L. C. Page & Company, 1921. ISBN: 9780553252415
    
  • Montgomery, The Blue Castle. L. C. Page & Company, 1926. ISBN: 9780553280517
    

• Additional Instructor-Distributed Materials

First Assignment

• Read Anne of Green Gables before the first class.

• OPTIONAL: Read The Alpine Path and/or any of LMM's journal entries.

A Brief Syllabus

1. The Foundational Text: The Bildungsroman and Künstlerroman
2. The Artist in the World: Ambition and Community
3. Whose Künstlerroman?
4. The Pure Künstlerroman: “The Flash” and the Artist's Vow
5. The Pure Künstlerroman (2): Profession, Love, and Compromise
6. The Domestic Bildungsroman: Love, Labor, and Grief
7. The Wartime Bildungsroman: The Self and the Nation
8. The Adult Bildungsroman: Rebellion and Rebirth

Cost and Registration

8 Sessions, $300 ($270 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.

We offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($300), Community Supported ($280), and Sponsor ($320)Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.

* The ebook bundle of the required readings is $10, which will be added onto the registration fee. *

To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.

Having trouble signing up? Take a look at our step-by-step guide to registration by clicking here.

The views and opinions expressed in this class and/or by the instructor are not necessarily representative of the Newberry. We aim to ensure that in our classes, participants can have respectful disagreement to foster critical thinking. This is a space to challenge and expand our own worldviews to work towards better understanding and appreciating humanity.

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