Protecting Her Brand: Contextualizing the Production and Publication of L.M. Montgomery’s “The Alpine Path”
Abstract
"The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career" is L.M. Montgomery's longest, most detailed public representation of her life and career. It was originally published in six installments in the popular Canadian magazine, Everywoman's World, in 1917 and reformatted and reprinted again in 1974 and 2005. In order to understand how this autobiography was used by Montgomery to shape her public image, Katja Lee argues that it is necessary to return to the contexts of its original production and publication. Using media articles, Montgomery's journals, and the 1917 edition of her memoir (recently made available through Early Canadiana Online), this article compares Montgomery's strategies of self-representation in this life-writing text with her strategies for managing the growing media interest in her life. It also explores how the domestic mandate of the magazine and the relationship of the memoir installments to advertisements and other articles in each issue would have shaped how her audience read and understood her narrative, critical contexts that are missing from contemporary editions of "The Alpine Path."
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