'Anne of Green Gables' turns 100

'Anne' is still beloved literary figure

One hundred years ago, a little, red-haired orphan, 11, stepped out of the pages of a book and into the hearts of readers everywhere.

During the past century, Anne Shirley, also known as Anne of Green Gables, has inspired, amused and entertained countless kindred spirits everywhere. She has become one of the most beloved of all literary figures, passed down from mother to daughter and generation to generation.

Her book has never been out of print, and it has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Her story has been translated into some 36 languages. It has been transformed into theater and film. The television miniseries made in the late 1980s has been screened in some 130 countries. She's an icon, not only in Canada, where her story is set, but also in far-off places such as Sweden and Japan.

So, what is it about this little misplaced moppet that makes her so endearing?

"Anne is not a simple but a multilayer character," says Irene Gammel, who has written a new biography of both the character and her creator in "Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L.M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic" (St. Martin's Press, $24.95).

"As Anne herself says in the novel: 'There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person.' Maud's (author Lucy Maud Montgomery, known as Maud to friends and family) imagination distilled the many influences and created a character that was a blend of orphan figure and glamour girl," says Gammel. "As Anne admits, 'If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting.' The fact that Anne is made up of many pieces explains her international appeal with readers of different cultures."

Anne is feisty, independent, charismatic. She has a power of words and imagination. She is tempestuous and intriguing, said Gammel, in a telephone chat from her Toronto office, where she is co-chairwoman of the L.M. Montgomery Institute and holds the Canada Research Chair in Modern Literature and Culture at Ryerson University. "We see both a girl who wants love and desperately wants to find a home, as well as a girl who has vanities about her hair color and loves puffed sleeves."

Yet there is a very positive message. What you take away from reading "Anne of Green Gables," Gammel says, is a feeling that regardless of what you have, "you can dream about a better reality, and as you dream, you can reach a better place."

Filmmaker Kevin Sullivan also finds Anne inspiring. Sullivan, the director of the mega-popular 1980s television miniseries featuring Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth and others, sees in "Anne of Green Gables" a "universal story that has withstood the test of time. It's multigenerational. Stories like that don't get told much these days."

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