“I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)

Drawing on the work of geographers Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph, this article takes up concepts such as place, space, rootedness, insideness, and outsideness to argue that, in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908), Green Gables (both the farm and the house) are central to protagonist Anne’s...

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Main Authors: Ashley N. Reese, Erin Spring
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Scandinavian University Press 2022-08-01
Series:Barnelitterært Forskningstidsskrift
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/blft.13.1.5
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author Ashley N. Reese
Erin Spring
author_facet Ashley N. Reese
Erin Spring
author_sort Ashley N. Reese
collection DOAJ
description Drawing on the work of geographers Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph, this article takes up concepts such as place, space, rootedness, insideness, and outsideness to argue that, in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908), Green Gables (both the farm and the house) are central to protagonist Anne’s identity. As Anne grows up, she moves from an orphan heroine (space, outsideness) to someone with a family and a permanent home (place, insideness, rootedness), completing the girl’s bildungsroman arc of joining her community through belonging. Using children’s literature’s home-away-home narrative as a framing device, we argue that, in this text, Anne chooses her love of place (topophilia) for Green Gables and consequently, domesticity over furthering her education, fulfilling the girl’s bildungsroman trajectory.
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publisher Scandinavian University Press
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series Barnelitterært Forskningstidsskrift
spelling doaj-art-caaf8ebffecb4714b91997d4b8e22e392025-08-20T02:19:34ZdanScandinavian University PressBarnelitterært Forskningstidsskrift2000-74932022-08-0113111010.18261/blft.13.1.5“I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)Ashley N. ReeseErin SpringDrawing on the work of geographers Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph, this article takes up concepts such as place, space, rootedness, insideness, and outsideness to argue that, in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908), Green Gables (both the farm and the house) are central to protagonist Anne’s identity. As Anne grows up, she moves from an orphan heroine (space, outsideness) to someone with a family and a permanent home (place, insideness, rootedness), completing the girl’s bildungsroman arc of joining her community through belonging. Using children’s literature’s home-away-home narrative as a framing device, we argue that, in this text, Anne chooses her love of place (topophilia) for Green Gables and consequently, domesticity over furthering her education, fulfilling the girl’s bildungsroman trajectory.http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/blft.13.1.5placespaceidentitygirls’ literaturebildungsromantopophilia
spellingShingle Ashley N. Reese
Erin Spring
“I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)
Barnelitterært Forskningstidsskrift
place
space
identity
girls’ literature
bildungsroman
topophilia
title “I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)
title_full “I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)
title_fullStr “I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)
title_full_unstemmed “I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)
title_short “I’ve never belonged to anybody—not really”: Space, place, and the bildungsroman in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908)
title_sort i ve never belonged to anybody not really space place and the bildungsroman in l m montgomery s anne of green gables 1908
topic place
space
identity
girls’ literature
bildungsroman
topophilia
url http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/blft.13.1.5
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AT erinspring iveneverbelongedtoanybodynotreallyspaceplaceandthebildungsromaninlmmontgomerysanneofgreengables1908