Annes and Islands, Dogs and Dog

 

A Different Anne, a Different Island

 

Anne of Green Gables was one of my mother’s favorite books (others in the series among that group), and I have written before of my copy of Anne's House of Dreams, once my mother's own, but I have long wanted to read the story of a different fictional Anne, a novel not set in Canada’s Maritime provinces, but, at the beginning, at least, right here in Michigan – that is, up in the Straits of Mackinac, on Mackinac Island. Constance Fenimore Woolson, great-niece of James Fenimore Cooper, born in Massachusetts in 1840, was a great traveler. Besides visiting the Great Lakes, she also traveled to Florida (her mother lived in St. Augustine), England, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, and was buried in Rome upon her death (possibly from suicide) at age 54. Stories in Woolson’s collection Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches are set predominantly in the Great Lakes, where the author had a particular attachment to northern Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Mackinac Island. 

Anne, a novel often identified as feminist fiction, opens with the eponymous young woman’s life on the island, her mother and stepmother both having died and her father having faded into a dreamlike, unremunerative idleness. Still in her teens, Anne is in charge of a household that includes four little half-siblings, three boys and a strange, fey little girl. When the father also dies and Anne learns for the first time how perilous is the family’s financial situation, she realizes also that she must prepare herself to make a living, and so, several chapters into the story, she enrolls in a private Eastern school for girls.

Woolson describes characters' looks and dress in detail, as she does the landscapes and worlds of her fiction. The glories and riches of the fur trade are already past by the time of Anne’s Mackinac Island, but the fort is still manned, island economy restricted to fishing and subsistence farming (both seasonal occupations), while shipping is conducted by sail and steam. The novel, Woolson’s first, was published in 1880 and is a window into late 19^th-century America, in general, as well as into its main character’s life and character. 

 

Reading about Woolson and her work, one regularly encounters quite subjective notes. An article in The New Republic, for instance, leads off with this sentence below its title:

 

Constance Fenimore Woolson wrote bitter, morbid, and severe fictions, but her devotion to James was her undoing. – Max Nelson, “Betrayed by Henry James,” March 1, 2016

 

(Well, Henry James -- there was a cold fish, eh?) Lehigh University, on the other hand, notes that “Woolson was a literary success almost from the start,” while Britannica emphasizes that the author’s works of fiction were “particularly notable for the sense of place they evoke.” That last comment captures my reasons for wanting to read this book.

 

I am not yet halfway through Anne so cannot say if I will find the novel “bitter, morbid, and severe” in its later chapters. Anne’s great-aunt, to be sure, is a horrid person, but the Frenchwoman who heads the school Anne attends is a darling and manages the great-aunt (who has agreed to pay for a single year of Anne’s education, with no added frills!) with Gallic charm and diplomacy. I’m wondering at this stage in my reading if Anne’s fiancé will prove true to his promise – but also wondering if Anne herself is really in love with him or if she will find someone else. And what will be the role of the sly little half-sister as the story unfolds? 

 

If you have read this novel, please do not answer any of the questions I have posed above!

 

 

Northport Dog Notes

Northport Dog Parade 2021

Dog Parade is this Saturday! No, Sunny Juliet (a.k.a. Naughty Barker) will not be in it, but if you want to participate with your dog and be eligible for prizes, please don’t wait until Saturday morning to register! At least, don't try to register at Dog Ears Books on Saturday, because registration forms I have will be picked up at the end of Friday afternoon. Pre-registration is $5 per dog, and registration on Saturday is $10 per dog. That's if you want to be eligible for prizes. 

 

(More) Dog Notes

 

Sunny and I did much better this week at our agility session. That is, Sunny was a star, a champion, and I didn’t make as many mistakes as usual, which helped her shine. We have some new routines to work on at home, where fun with tennis balls is as much of a reward for her as dog treats. How she loves to leap for tennis balls! Now, if only she could work up the same enthusiasm for a Frisbee – and maybe in time that will come, too. 

Field Notes

 

My meadow is gay with dancing daisies and swaying grey-headed coneflowers, apples are reddening on the trees, and ripening blackberries tempt Sunny Juliet to harvest them one by one with her dainty dog lips. Mornings are quieter, August (unlike June) not ringing with dawn birdsong as summer begins to wind down.

Invasive but beautiful loosestrife is blooming in ditches and narrows. It really is lovely and can’t help its nature, and who can resist the name? Loose strife! Begone, dull care!