Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables ist ein Roman der kanadischen Schriftstellerin Lucy Maud Montgomery, der 1908 erschien. Er wurde rasch ein Welterfolg. Seit der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts wird er meist nur noch als Kinderbuch verstanden.

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Die Waise Anne Shirley kommt als Elfjährige zu dem älteren Junggesellen Matthew Cuthbert und seiner ebenfalls ledigen Schwester Marilla geschickt, obwohl diese vom Waisenhaus einen Jungen angefordert hatten. Sie wohnen auf dem Hof Green Gables (dem "Haus mit den grünen Giebeln") in dem fiktiven Ort Avonlea auf Prince Edward Island in Neuschottland in Kanada.

Anne fällt zunächst durch eine leidenschaftliche Flucht in Tagträume auf und durch ein nicht zu stoppendes Redebedürfnis sowie eine Vorliebe für hochgestochene Wörter, die sie realistischerweise kaum in dem Milieu aufschnappen konnte, in dem sie aufgewachsen ist. Dann aber zeigt sich, dass sie ungewöhnlich lernfähig ist.

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Gebet der elfjährigen Anne

“Gracious heavenly Father, I thank Thee for the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters and Bonny and the Snow Queen. I’m really extremely grateful for them. And that’s all the blessings I can think of just now to thank Thee for.

As for the things I want, they’re so numerous that it would take a great deal of time to name them all so I will only mention the two most important. Please let me stay at Green Gables; and please let me be good-looking when I grow up.

I remain,

“Yours respectfully, Anne Shirley.”
Anne Says Her Prayers, 7. Kapitel

Gilbert Blythe oder Anne wird bestraft

Gilbert Blythe wasn’t used to putting himself out to make a girl look at him and meeting with failure. She should look at him, that red-haired Shirley girl with the little pointed chin and the big eyes that weren’t like the eyes of any other girl in Avonlea school.

Gilbert reached across the aisle, picked up the end of Anne’s long red braid, held it out at arm’s length and said in a piercing whisper: “Carrots! Carrots!”

Then Anne looked at him with a vengeance!

She did more than look. She sprang to her feet, her bright fancies fallen into cureless ruin. She flashed one indignant glance at Gilbert from eyes whose angry sparkle was swiftly quenched in equally angry tears. “You mean, hateful boy!” she exclaimed passionately. “How dare you!” And then—thwack! Anne had brought her slate down on Gilbert’s head and cracked it—slate not head—clear across.

Avonlea school always enjoyed a scene. This was an especially enjoyable one. Everybody said “Oh” in horrified delight. Diana gasped. Ruby Gillis, who was inclined to be hysterical, began to cry. Tommy Sloane let his team of crickets escape him altogether while he stared open-mouthed at the tableau. Mr. Phillips stalked down the aisle and laid his hand heavily on Anne’s shoulder. “Anne Shirley, what does this mean?” he said angrily. Anne returned no answer. It was asking too much of flesh and blood to expect her to tell before the whole school that she had been called “carrots.” Gilbert it was who spoke up stoutly. “It was my fault, Mr. Phillips. I teased her.”

Mr. Phillips paid no heed to Gilbert. “I am sorry to see a pupil of mine displaying such a temper and such a vindictive spirit,” he said in a solemn tone, as if the mere fact of being a pupil of his ought to root out all evil passions from the hearts of small imperfect mortals. “Anne, go and stand on the platform in front of the blackboard for the rest of the afternoon.”

Anne would have infinitely preferred a whipping to this punishment under which her sensitive spirit quivered as from a whiplash. With a white, set face she obeyed. Mr. Phillips took a chalk crayon and wrote on the blackboard above her head.

“Ann Shirley has a very bad temper. Ann Shirley must learn to control her temper,” and then read it out loud so that even the primer class, who couldn’t read writing, should understand it. Anne stood there the rest of the afternoon with that legend above her. She did not cry or hang her head. Anger was still too hot in her heart for that and it sustained her amid all her agony of humiliation. With resentful eyes and passion-red cheeks she confronted alike Diana’s sympathetic gaze and Charlie Sloane’s indignant nods and Josie Pye’s malicious smiles. As for Gilbert Blythe, she would not even look at him. She would never look at him again! She would never speak to him!!

When school was dismissed Anne marched out with her red head held high. Gilbert Blythe tried to intercept her at the porch door. “I’m awfully sorry I made fun of your hair, Anne,” he whispered contritely. “Honest I am. Don’t be mad for keeps, now.” Anne swept by disdainfully, without look or sign of hearing. “Oh how could you, Anne?” breathed Diana as they went down the road half reproachfully, half admiringly. Diana felt that she could never have resisted Gilbert’s plea. “I shall never forgive Gilbert Blythe,” said Anne firmly. “And Mr. Phillips spelled my name without an e, too. The iron has entered into my soul, Diana.”

Diana hadn’t the least idea what Anne meant but she understood it was something terrible. “You mustn’t mind Gilbert making fun of your hair,” she said soothingly. “Why, he makes fun of all the girls. He laughs at mine because it’s so black. He’s called me a crow a dozen times; and I never heard him apologize for anything before, either.” “There’s a great deal of difference between being called a crow and being called carrots,” said Anne with dignity. “Gilbert Blythe has hurt my feelings excruciatingly, Diana.”
A Tempest in the School Teapot, 15. Kapitel

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Wirkung

"The Green Gables farmhouse is located in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Many tourist attractions on Prince Edward Island have been developed based on the fictional Anne, and provincial licence plates once bore her image. Balsam Hollow, the forest that inspired the Haunted Woods and Campbell Pond, the body of water which inspired The Lake of Shining Waters, both described in the book, are located in the vicinity. In addition, the Confederation Centre of the Arts has featured the wildly successful Anne of Green Gables musical on its mainstage every summer for the past 48 years.

The novel has been very popular in Japan, which is known as Red-haired Anne. where it has been included in the national school curriculum since 1952. 'Anne' is revered as "an icon" in Japan, especially since 1979 when this story had been broadcast as anime, Anne of Green Gables. Japanese couples travel to Prince Edward Island to have civil wedding ceremonies on the grounds of the Green Gables farm. Some Japanese girls arrive as tourists with red-dyed hair styled in pigtails, to look like Anne. In 2014, Asadora 'Hanako to Anne' (Hanako Muraoka is the first translator in Japan) was broadcast and Anne became popular among old and young (alike)." (Anne of Green Gables)

Textausgabe

Anne of Green Gables bei Gutenberg.org

Weblinks

• Anne auf Green Gables
• Anne of Green Gables^(English)