Issue #11: Anne of Green Gables
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My Fantasy of an Anne of Green Gables / Pollyanna Death Match
IN THIS CORNER, hailing from 1908 and weighing in at 68 pounds, in the bright red pigtails, The Green Gable Disabler—ANNE SHIRLEY!
AND IN THIS CORNER, hailing from 1913 and weighing in at 71 pounds, in the blonde pigtails, The “Glad”iator—POLLYANNA!
LADIES! When the bell rings, COME OUT SWINGING!
“…if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it—SOME.”
WHOMP! Pollyanna comes out with her Shock and Awe offense. But Anne of Green Gables looks undaunted!
“If I really wanted to pray, I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d go out into a great big field all alone, or in the deep, deep woods and I’d look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just feel a prayer.”
BAM! Anne Shirley comes back like gangbusters!
“It’ll be just lovely for you to play—it’ll be so hard. And there’s so much more fun when it’s hard.”
WHACK! Pollyanna launches a right hook!
“Just as soon as you attain one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”
BOFFO! Anne of Green Gables will not be bested in this match.
“What men and women need is encouragement…People radiate what’s in their minds and in their hearts.”
THUMP! Pollyanna is still hitting strong.
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly you will.”
KRAK! Anne of Green Gables is in amazing form!
“…there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”
YOUCH! Pollyanna isn’t beaten yet!
“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”
WINNER! BY SIX BOOKS TO TWO—ANNE OF GREEN GABLES!
What was going on in the early days of the 20th century that not one but two chirpy, twerpy orphans show up on the literary scene? While Anne was in Canada and Pollyanna in the U.S., North America was not yet the political powerhouse it is today, and societal cues were still taken from Great Britain. The turn of the 19th century saw the end of westward expansion in North America, as well as both the Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion. Queen Victoria, longest reigning British monarch to date, had died in 1901, but her legacy of the idealization of cozy domestic life and her focus on female virtue (instilled by her strict and controlling mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld) brought forth the notion that women should be strong, intelligent and independent, but also chaste, cheerful, industrious and obedient.
Anne of Green Gables is all those things, so much so that, as a grown woman reading her story for the first time more than 100 years after it was written, I found it too sappy to be believable. I don’t think that even as a child I would have enjoyed it. My own childhood was far from pleasant, so I was cynical and aware of the ugly side of things (as was Anne Shirley) from a young age. But where I learned not to trust people and to always question their motives, Anne Shirley developed a perversely generous and optimistic outlook.
I believe it was her very optimism that appealed to so many, because at book fairs and writers’ conferences, we told folks that we were doing an issue based around Anne of Green Gables, and they squealed. It was nearly all women, and their reactions were the same every time: first, their eyes lit up as though we’d told them they’d won a prize. Then they’d make excited noises. Then they’d tell us about how much they loved Anne of Green Gables, how it had influenced them when they were younger, what lovely memories they still had of it.
We heard from lots of women who looked at Anne’s sunny disposition and longed for her world where positive thinking and relentless cheerfulness wore down even her most grouchy opponents. They took Anne’s triumphs over adversity to heart, believing that their own obstacles could be overcome.
We now exist in a world of political uncertainty. The dominant conservative forces would love nothing more than to return us to a world of Victorian values where, like Anne, people take oppression and unfairness with pluck and good humor. If we’re going to continue to hold Anne up as an example to young girls, I’d rather they not look at her trusting nature or good humor in the face of adversity. I’d rather they look at her determination, her refusal to hide her intelligence, and her willingness to smash over the head anyone who gives her shit.
Lise Quintana
Carolyn Agee
All Too Beautiful to Last
Carolyn’s writing credits include “Niteblade,” “The Lorelei Signal,” and “Building Red: Mission Mars.” Her novella The Ambiguous Tides of Saudade will be released later this year. Website: http://www.facebook.com/CarolynAgee
Rebecca Bennett
Love, by Alexander Graham Bell
Rebecca is a speculative fiction writer in Canada’s capital. Her work has previously appeared on Devilfish Review.
Carina Bissett
After Dark, When White Things Whisper
Carina’s short fiction and poetry has been published in the Journal of Mythic Arts, Mythic Delirium, NonBinary Review, Timeless Tales, and The Horror ‘Zine. She currently teaches online workshops and is working on her MFA in Creative Writing at Stonecoast. www.carinabissett.com.
Gayle Brandeis
Gables
Gayle is the author of Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, Dictionary Poems, and the novels The Book of Dead Birds, which won Barbara Kingsolver’s Bellwether Prize for Fiction of Social Engagement, Self Storage, Delta Girls, and My Life with the Lincolns.
Shari Caplan
Anne&Diana/One Canoe
Shari is the author of Advice from a Siren. Her work is forthcoming from Blue Lyra Review and has earned her a scholarship to The Home School in Hudson, NY as well as a nomination for the Emerging Artist Grant from the Saint Botolph’s Club Foundation.
Jan Chronister
On Potato Island
Jan lives and writes in the woods near Maple, Wisconsin. Her chapbook Target Practice was published in 2009 by Parallel Press at the University of Wisconsin.
Marissa Cohen
Anne Shirley Gone Girl
Marissa Cohen is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Award nominee for “Cancerland.” Her work has appeared in NonBinary Review, Gather Kindling, and Wilde Magazine, among many other publications. Marissacohen.com
Michelle Donofrio
Raspberry Cordial
Michelle works in advertising and attends DePaul University for her Masters in Writing and Publishing. Michelle has recently been published at Crack the Spine and Postcards Poems and Prose.
Meg Eden
I Don’t Think I Ever Read Anne of Green Gables
Meg has been published in Rattle, Drunken Boat, Poet Lore, and Gargoyle. She has four poetry chapbooks, and her novel Post-High School Reality Quest is forthcoming. www.megedenbooks.com
Melanie J. Fishbane
The New Girl
Melanie’s YA novel Maud: A Novel Based on the Teen Life of L. M. Montgomery will be released in May 2017. Her essay “My Pen Shall Heal, Not Hurt” is included in L. M. Montgomery’s Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years 1911-1942.
Lauren Harwyn
A Night in a Wild Cherry Tree
Lauren has been published by Dear Damsels, Witty Bitches and Northern Light and won Soliloquies Anthology’s flash fiction contest. www.laurenharwyn.com
Karen Hayashida
Kindred Spirit Can No Longer Keep Secret
Karen calls Honolulu, Hawaii, home. She enjoys writing, vagabonding, and exploring the world of estate planning. Her love of Anne of Green Gables is well documented on her senior yearbook page.
Tolonda Henderson
Twenty Pounds of Brown Sugar
Tolonda has been writing and performing from the perspective of a fat, queer, neurodivergent African-American woman. Her work has appeared in Freeze Ray Poetry, Yellow Chair Review, and Open Letters Monthly.
Louise Hopewell
The Ants
Louise has published poetry, as well as short fiction, and regularly performs her original songs. Her work has been published in Seizure, EastLit, FH: A journal of English senryu and Chamber poets anthology: Shots from the chamber.
Anna Levine
Kindred Spirits
Anna is the author of Running on Eggs, Freefall, Jodie’s First Dig. Levine lives in Israel and is presently working on a manuscript set in Montreal and Poland.
Jennie MacDonald
On Reflection
Jennie has published poetry, short stories, opera reviews, and academic pieces. Her essay, “‘I just love pretty clothes’: Considering the Sartorial in Anne of Green Gables” was read at the centennial celebration of the book in Prince Edward Island.
Lily Iona MacKenzie
The Dollhouse
Lily has published reviews, interviews, short fiction, poetry, travel pieces, essays, and memoir. Fling! was published in July 2015. Bone Songs will be published in early in 2017. Freefall: A Divine Comedy will be released in 2018. http://lilyionamackenzie.wordpress.com.
Julian Tirhma
The Moon Shall Endure
Julian is primarily a performance poet inhabiting subjects with uncomfortable claims on desire, marginality, and power. They also lovingly handmake little collage books and videos from found materials.
Rochelle Spencer
Guardian Angels
Rochelle’s work appears in Calyx, Callaloo, the African American Review, So to Speak, the Carbon Culture Review, the East Bay Review, Apocrypha and Abstractions, Mosaic, the Crab Creek Review, and other publications.
J.J. Steinfeld
In the Mind of Love
J. J. lives on Prince Edward Island and has published seventeen books, including Would You Hide Me? (Stories), Identity Dreams and Memory Sounds (Poetry), Madhouses in Heaven, Castles in Hell (Stories) and An Unauthorized Biography of Being (Stories).
Samantha Stiers
Anne/Ann
Samantha has published fiction, poetry, and memoir in Conjunctions, DIAGRAM, Black Warrior Review, and many other magazines. She is the recipient of the Frances Locke Memorial Poetry Prize.
Hazel Kight Witham
The Lady of the Watch
Hazel’s work can be found in Bellevue Literary Review, Rising Phoenix Review and Flash Flash Click. Her middle grade memoir-in-verse, The Thing About Secrets, is out on submission. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Meg Yardley
Marilla Calls Her Back From Daydreams
Meg lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work has previously appeared in Rattle, Hanging Loose, LEVELER, and Right Hand Pointing.