10th biennial L.M. Montgomery Conference to take place June 20–24
The 10th biennial international conference on the life and writings of Lucy Maud (L.M.) Montgomery will be hosted by the University of Prince Edward Island's L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI) on June 20-24. This year's theme-cultural memory- will be celebrated by an exciting group of scholars, including presenters from seven countries.
Among them will be a new presenter to the conference, Vappu Kannas, a doctoral student from Finland and a young LMMI scholar. 'There aren't many well-written books that depict the development of young women in depth, or of female communities and relationships in a general sense,' says Kannas. 'That, I think, explains why Montgomery's books appeal to women-and men-from around the world.'
Montgomery's heroines are also a central appeal to Kannas. 'You can't help being drawn to them. Annoying as they may be, they are never dull. Or, as Montgomery puts it when depicting Emily in Emily's Quest, ‘Many people liked her, many disliked her. No one was ever wholly indifferent to her.''
Another new presenter will be Poushali Bradury of India, who thinks Montgomery has 'the ability, like the very best authors, to transport her readers from across the world to an imagined space.' Bradury mentions that there are plenty of Montgomery fans in India. 'I'm particularly intrigued by the vivid characters, both the joys and deep sorrows that can beset these characters are also major points of continued fascination.'
One of the keynote speakers, Diane Tye from Memorial University of Newfoundland, is not new to scholarship, but is bringing a fresh eye to Montgomery's work from her well-known research in folklore. With a focus on Atlantic Canadian folklore, and on girls and women, Tye has 'published on subjects from bachelorette parties to Christmas mummering, contemporary legend and cultural understandings of regionally iconic foods like molasses and home-baked bread.' Her talk on 'folklore as memory' will shed light on local tradition and Montgomery's writing.
The diverse conference panels will feature new ideas about Montgomery, and home and cultural landscape; narrative and storytelling; folklore, reading, and remembering; memory, and masculinity, and cross-cultural memory.
Since 1993, the L.M. Montgomery Institute's conferences have drawn scholars across a wide range of academic disciplines and research interests, and have been foundational to international scholarship on Montgomery and Canadian culture, 'islandness,' conflict, landscapes, nature, the idea of the classic. This year's conference hopes to continue to refresh literary studies, to illuminate Montgomery's life, and to write with new and young scholars.
For more information, or to purchase session passes, visit http://www.lmmontgomery.ca/conference2012 or contact conference co-chairs, Simon Lloyd (902) 566-0536 slloyd@upei.ca, or Jean Mitchell (902) 566-0381 mjmitchell@upei.ca.
