UPEI’s L.M. Montgomery Institute names Swedish visiting scholar
Åsa Warnqvist, a post-doctoral scholar at Stockholm University, is the 2011 Visiting Scholar for the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island, announced institute chair, Mark Leggott.
'We are pleased to have Åsa join us as our Visiting Scholar,' said Leggott. 'It is encouraging to see the number of young, international researchers who continue to select Lucy Maud Montgomery as their subject of interest. We look forward to seeing what exciting initiatives Åsa will launch over the next year. Her work shows the influence of Montgomery on generations of Swedish readers.'
During her year-long position, Warnqvist will work on her present research project 'L.M. Montgomery in Sweden' which aims to investigate the importance of Montgomery's work, especially Anne of Green Gables, in her home country. She will work closely with the organizing committee of, and present her research, at the international L.M. Montgomery Conference which focuses on the theme of 'Montgomery and Cultural Memory', slated for June 2012. Warnqvist has already co-hosted a major international conference on Montgomery in Sweden in 2009.
Warnqvist notes, 'Anne of Green Gables was first translated and published in Sweden as Anne på Grönkulla in 1909, the year after its original publication, making it the very first foreign-language translation. The novel has celebrated a century of success in the Swedish publishing industry and has long been established as a classic.' It is now the only classic girl's story that continuously has been in print in Sweden for 100 years making it interesting to study within the fields of sociology of literature and gender studies.
'Some of the questions that inform my research on the success and impact of L.M. Montgomery's work in Sweden. What are the key factors in the novel's long-lasting fame in Sweden? How has Anne been regarded by publishers, critics, and readers during these one-hundred years? What impact has the story had on Swedish readers and writers during the twentieth century, and how do contemporary Swedish readers relate to the story of Anne?'
Warnqvist's project includes reception studies as well as book market studies and focuses on three different aspects: Montgomery's success in the Swedish book market, the reception of her work among Swedish readers and critics, and her influence on Swedish authors, above all Astrid Lindgren, author of international classic, Pippi Longstocking. One of the aims of her research trip to UPEI is to study the Swedish covers of Montgomery's novels in an international context and she will do so by drawing on the extensive Ryrie-Campbell collection of international editions in the Robertson Library's archives which continues to draw international attention.
Warnqvist arrived on Prince Edward Island on October 17.
