- Could there be a better name for a house where you plan to spend your later years?
- Heartbroken that Maud, who had such a deep connection to places, found this first house she and her husband ever owned was a place she often didn’t want to return.
- As I’m starting a new book myself, I’ve been especially intrigued by Maud’s gardening term, spade-work, for all the work that goes into a book before the writing begins.
- I loved LANTERN HILL but view WINDY POPLARS and INGELSIDE as the weakest Anne books (though I’m still fiercely faithful to them). Interesting they were written in this tumultuous phase of her life. So curious about the sequel to JANE she started but never finished!
- Breaking down in front of his former congregations! Always seeking out new doctors but never telling them the full story! Giving medicine-induced speeches in the middle of the night! This second read through, I think I feel even more compassion for him than I did the first time. And more sadness over their very difficult marriage.
- Losing two years of college, having an affair. What a mess! And how was Maud, who seethed over both circumstances, able to make excuses for his infidelity?
- It was interesting to read that though Maud was guarded about her own and Ewan’s mental health, it was perfectly normal to explain in a fan letter that she’d recently experienced a “nervous breakdown.” Surely this emotional state was an acceptable thing to discuss, while full-blown depression and Ewan’s religious melancholia weren’t. Times have changed somewhat, haven’t they?
- While we’re at it, here’s a definition for neurasthenia, which Maud often used to describe her condition: a virtually obsolete term formerly used to describe a vague disorder marked by chronic abnormal fatigability, moderate depression, inability to concentrate, loss of appetite, insomnia, and other symptoms. Popularly called nervous prostration.
- Oh, Maud, you had a hard time communicating with those who worked in your home. I wonder if you ever felt remorse over all the ugly endings?
- Volume V marked twenty years of the death of Maud’s cousin and best friend, Frede Campbell. I can’t help wondering how their friendship might have grown and/or changed if she had lived. Anyone else with thoughts on this?
The bleak nature of this final volume
- I thought it important to echo something mentioned in the introduction to Volume V:
It is also salutary to moderate the darkness of the journals by returning to the gentler version of life in the novels — as much an indicator of Montgomery’s vision of the world as is the darker view in the journals.
Have any of you re-read Maud’s novels while reading the journals? I re-read EMILY OF NEW MOON during Volume III and plan on finishing the series later this year. I’d also like to re-read KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD, BLUE CASTLE, and JANE OF LANTERN HILL. Maybe the Pat books, too, since Maud claimed she was most like Pat of all her characters (I can certainly see that).
A query on journaling
- This is something I’ve pondered since starting this discussion. I can’t say I’m any closer to answer. Is it possible to truly journal a life? What do you think?
When dreariness and fear threaten to overwhelm me I shall remember this letter and say to myself, “Take heart my child. As long as you can bring a little delight or comfort into the lives of others life is worth living. And there are countless lives waiting for you yet in the years of eternity and in the stars yet unborn.”
As one of those “stars yet unborn” when this was written, I thank you, Maud, for the delight and comfort you’ve given me.
I’m looking forward to reading this last volume at a more sedate, and hopefully less emotional time of my own life. (All these pregnancy hormones…but I’m sure Maud would understand!)
I love the point about the hope in her novels balancing out the bleakness in her journals. I imagine she NEEDED an outlet for her melancholia so much more as the joy so quickly found its way into her books–and she did mention in earlier volumes that she tended to be one-sided in the emotions she conveyed. I did just re-read The Blue Castle, which I’d say is her “darkest” novel, and it was interesting to see the way her character saw the world: certainly not a perfect place, but permeated with joy. More so than in her other books, though, here you saw that joy was found not by hiding away in an easy life or sticking to the comfortable, but by jumping right into the darkness and spreading a little light there. It definitely meant more to me reading it this time…
Blue Castle was an early novel…written in Leaksdale, I think? So many people claim it as their favorite. Really must find a copy and read again. I think I’ll wait until Sourcebooks releases their editions.
Oh, man. Volume 5 makes me feel a bleak even though I read it in the springtime. I, too, found it very curious how Ewan’s malady had to be so covered up. Surely other people knew things weren’t right? I also found myself wondering what would have become of them if Maud hadn’t been such a successful author?
I always want the happy ending for LMM and it is so hard that it doesn’t look like it ever came. I do think there must have been some joyful spots, that the journal was her outlet for depression and anxiety so is skewed that way, but it still is difficult to read.
I also found it hard to read about her relationship with her sons. I think Chester’s double-life was so sad but also think it sad to think of all that pressure on him. In some senses, no wonder he crumbled. And then to have been pressed into a forced marriage with so many of his life-decisions chosen by others (Maud herself included and involved). I wonder what became of them.
Whenever I re-read the journals, I’m inspired, because I think whether it’s an accurate depiction of a life or not, it is a wonderful glimpse into previous years. When I typically journal, it’s much more an outlet for feelings and prayers and the like. Not too many daily details or character sketches, but I don’t wonder if those would be lovely to re-read in a couple of decades.
I think my favorite part of the journals is all the homey-details, the glimpse into daily life back then – even with all its bumps and valleys. I also found myself very curious what happened in the final years. So many gaps, except for a few dramatic, mysterious declarations. Did she have a full-on nervous breakdown? Very voyeuristic, I know, but she did have the novelist’s touch for increasing tension.
And I , too, am so excited about the upcoming YA novel. 🙂
I have to confess sometimes feeling impatient with Maud in this volume. But then I’d remember (as you’ve mentioned here) she was it as far as supporting the family went. And she had no real support system for herself. Poor woman.
You’re right about Chester. Even though he and Louella chose to marry, I think they did so simply to avoid even more parental strife, claiming it was well before her pregnancy. Maud did put a lot of pressure on both of them. She also decided he’d be “trouble” rather early on. I wonder if she saw him through this veil and it helped inform Chester of the way he chose to behave, like self-fulfilling prophecy. Also interesting to see his second marriage was to Ida, years later. I wonder if their reuniting (or his divorce?) were things that kept her from journaling in the end.
Have you picked up Rubio’s Gift of Wings yet?
I just finished posting about L.L.M., since my husband and I had the opportunity to visit Prince Edward Island two and a half weeks ago, and I purchased her memoir, The Alpine Path. Nice to read your post.
How wonderful! I want to go so badly. My parents were just in Halifax, and I was picturing her year at the Halifax Echo. Off to read your post.
I never read the Anne books until a couple of years ago and Ingleside and Windy were my least favorites as well. I didn’t like their episodic nature and lack of overarching plot or theme. But of course they were still enjoyable!
Carin, which Anne is your favorite?
I too am struck by the depression and sadness in her own life contrasted to the lightness and joy in some of her novels (recognizing that some of them deal with darkness as well.) She must have felt such a huge range emotions from her personal “depths of despair” vs the joy and loveliness of her happiest characters. There’s a conversation between Anne and Marilla about sailing up on the clouds, and then returning to the earth with a thud. Marilla says, (in Marilla-like fashion), that she prefers neither to sail or thud, but just to go about her business calmly and placidly, whereas Anne says that the thrill of sailing makes up for the abrupt return to reality. Pieces of the book are a little more telling when you know the story of LMM’s life. (And please forgive my retelling of Anne and Marilla’s conversation!)
I know for some journal readers the darkness has overshadowed the reading of her fiction. But for me it helped me appreciate it even more, knowing the depths of her struggles. I love this little glimpse you’ve shared between Marilla and Anne. Such an interesting look into an Anne-like / Maud-like mindset.