University of Toronto Press, 2018
Book One in The L.M. Montgomery Library

Years before she published her internationally celebrated first novel, Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery (1874–1942) started contributing short works to periodicals across North America. While these works consisted primarily of poems and short stories, she also experimented with a wider range of forms, particularly during the early years of her career, at which point she experimented with several authorial identities before settling on the professional moniker “L.M. Montgomery.”
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917 is the first in a series of volumes collecting Montgomery’s extensive contributions to periodicals. Leading Montgomery scholar Benjamin Lefebvre discusses these so-called miscellaneous pieces in relation to the works of English-speaking women writers who preceded her and the strategies they used to succeed, including the decision to publish under gender-neutral signatures. Among the highlights of the volume are Montgomery’s contributions to student periodicals, a weekly newspaper column entitled “Around the Table,” a long-lost story narrated first by a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage and then by the man she wishes she had married instead, and a new edition of her 1917 celebrity memoir, “The Alpine Path.” Drawing fascinating links to Montgomery’s life writing, career, and fiction, this volume will offer scholars and readers alike an intriguing new look at the work of Canada’s most enduringly popular author.
- A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917 at L.M. Montgomery Online
- A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917 at University of Toronto Press
- A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917 at 49th Shelf
- A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917 at De Gruyter
- The L.M. Montgomery Library at L.M. Montgomery Online
- The L.M. Montgomery Library at University of Toronto Press
Contents
List of Illustrations (vii–viii)
Acknowledgments (ix–x)
A Note on the Author (xi–xii)
Abbreviations (xiii–xiv)
Preface (xv–xxiv)
A Note on the Text (xxv–xxvi)
Part 1: Early and Student Publications
The Wreck of the “Marco Polo” (5–10)
A Western Eden (11–16)
From Prince Albert to P.E. Island (17–26)
The Usual Way (27–31)
Extracts from the Diary of a Second Class Mouse (32–34)
High School Life in Saskatchewan (35–37)
Valedictory (38–40)
“Portia”—A Study (41–43)
“Which Has the Most Patience under the Ordinary Cares and Trials of Life—Man or Woman?” (44–46)
Crooked Answers (47–49)
The Bad Boy of Blanktown School (50–53)
James Henry, Truant (54–57)
A Girl’s Place at Dalhousie College (58–67)
To the Editor (68)
Part 2: Maud Montgomery, Newspaper Woman
A Half-Hour in an Old Cemetery (71–73)
Around the Table (75–191)
Half an Hour with Canadian Mothers (192–202)
Christmas Shopping in Halifax Stores (203–13)
Many Admiring Glances Bestowed upon Graduates (214–17)
Netted Doily (218–19)
Innocent Irreverence (220)
Part 3: The Upward Climb to Heights Sublime
Two Sides of a Life Story (223–30)
The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career (231–311)
Afterword (313–40)
Notes (341–420)
Bibliography (421–37)
Purchase
Available from University of Toronto Press or from your favourite bookseller.