Johanna Spyri and L.M. Montgomery

[Judith Crabb]

Thanks dsr for your recommendation. The first 'The Road to Avonlea' DVD has arrived and it is worth the wait. I was doubtful about the padding in the first episode, which I understand was needed to get the story up and running. I thought 'The Story Girl and its sequel 'The Golden Road' not the most likely Montgomery novels to adapt well to the screen, but when I found that 'Chronicles of Avonlea' and 'Further Chronicles' are included, with their wonderful potential for talented character actors, I knew that I was in for a treat. From memory the Story Girl, Sarah Stanley, is the oldest of the children, so at first I thought that tiny Sarah Polley was miscast, but as a child actor she is worth watching for her own sake.
The series should be a balm for troubled souls in these difficult times. (One episode is called 'Quarantine' - smallpox. Our characters get it uncharacteristically mildly.)
By the way, I found out that my favourite 'The Blue Castle' was made into a hit musical, in Poland, a few years ago. Montgomery, like Blyton, is an international star.

[Katharine]

I found a nice copy of Heidi's children, complete with D/W in a charity shop recently. It looks to be the same version as I borrowed from my aunt as a child. I just need to find copies of the first two books now, so I can read it.

[Anita Bensoussane]

...by chance at my local library I came across a DVD set including the BBC 1975 version of 'Anne of Avonlea'. It has delighted me for the last three evenings and there are more episodes to watch. I immediately googled the 1972 BBC version of 'Anne of Green Gables' and was sorely disappointed to find that it was a victim of the ill-considered decision to erase 'non-commercial' series and no copies are known to have survived. Apparently early Dr. Who suffered the same fate.
However I recommend 'Anne of Avonlea' to all who appreciate authentic screen recreations of favourite novels. The spirit of the original is preserved even when the exigencies of film prevent a totally faithful rendition. I consider that the 1970s was probably the last decade when the genius of the writers of the great novels was respected and film makers did not yet believe that they could 'improve' on the original texts by exaggeration, padding, and modernizing the attitudes and behaviour of characters to make them more acceptable to modern audiences. They are not entirely to blame as, by and large, audiences of today are less likely to have read the originals and so have never had the opportunity to develop a sense of history.

Despite the fact that it does deviate from the books (while retaining the main strands) and that Anne's attitude on various issues seems surprisingly modern at times, I must confess I've very much enjoyed watching Anne with an E on Netflix (three series, totalling 27 episodes of about an hour each). Superb casting, especially Anne (Amybeth McNulty), Marilla (Geraldine James) and Matthew (R. H. Thomson). I've always had a soft spot for Matthew, and R. H. Thomson played him perfectly. As for Anne's enthusiasm and passion, it was infectious. I could barely bring myself to watch anything else until I'd gone through the whole lot. I was completely captivated by the world of Prince Edward Island (and farther afield in some episodes) in the late 1800s.

Incidentally, while reading the books I've always pronounced Avonlea (in my head) as AY-vun-lee, but in this adaptation it was pronounced AV-un-lee. I'm aware that afon, the Celtic word for river (still used in Welsh today), is pronounced AV-on, while there are several rivers in Great Britain called Avon which are pronounced AY-vun. One of those rivers can be seen from my window! I was just wondering how other readers have pronounced Avonlea to themselves, and how it's pronounced in other TV adaptations (I've seen some but don't remember), and how L. M. Montgomery herself is likely to have said it.

[Katharine]

I've always said 'A Von', as in the cosmetics brand 'ding dong, AVON calling'.

[Judith Crabb]

My mother introduced me to the Anne books and her pronunciation became mine. Av-un-lee. This reminds me of when I was a young bookseller and an old (probably younger than I am now) woman came into the shop and asked if we had any 'Av-un-le-ar' books. I was too embarrassed to correct her and so the conversation developed around the 'Anne' books and I avoided saying Av-un-lee.
Anita, I take your recommendation of 'Anne with an E' seriously. I will try to suppress my indignation at the anachronisms of attributing 21st century attitudes to 19th century characters (which I guess your mention of Anne's being surprisingly modern is referring to) and try to immerse myself in what sounds like some fine acting. There's always the fast-forward button.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Interesting replies. Having discussed the books with various UK friends over the years, they've all pronounced Avonlea as AY-vun-lee. I suppose our River Avons have influenced us!

[Katharine]

I would appear to be in the minority.

I can understand there might be some confusion over how to pronounce the 'A', but surely 'von' is pronounced 'on', ie the cat sat on the mat? Or does everyone else say the cat sat un the mat?

It's a wonder we all understand each other sometimes.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's really the opening of the word that I'm talking about - whether it's AYV (as in 'cave') or AV (as in 'have'). Most people I've talked to have said it the first way, but the second way may be what the author intended.

I put the stress on the first syllable of the word (whether it's AYV or AV), so the second syllable is unstressed and comes out more like 'un' than 'on' (it's the schwa sound). It's like the word MELON - the first syllable is stressed but the second syllable is unstressed and sounds more like 'un' than 'on'.

[Boatbuilder]

Surely dialects, depending on where you are from and how you talk, play an important role in how you would pronounce the 'on' in that word. I don't think anyone would give it a thought when they are saying the word in their own dialect and I doubt the listener would be concerned by which ever way you said it as long as they know what you're talking about. No two people speak the same which is how we recognise voices.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Varying pronunciations are interesting but I must admit I had a particular reason for asking about the opening of the word, i.e. whether L. M. Montgomery would have pronounced AV to rhyme with 'cave' or with 'have'.

For a while, I've been toying with the idea of giving my flat a name. Since I have a good view of the River Avon from my living-room and bedroom windows, I wondered about calling it Avonlea - partly because of the river and partly as a tribute to Anne of Green Gables, as I've loved the book ever since I was a child (and enjoyed several of the sequels). I'd always imagined that the beginning of the word rhymed with 'cave', which would match the pronunciation of the river that runs near my flat. If it rhymes with 'have', it doesn't match the pronunciation of the river. Not that it really matters, especially as Avon derives from 'afon' (the first syllable of which rhymes with 'have') anyway!

[Boatbuilder]

In view of what you said about the view of the Avon, Anita, I would have thought 'Avonview' or 'Avon View' would have been your choice.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, but it doesn't have quite the same flow to it. I have other possibilities in mind and could still go with Avonlea as a tribute to Anne if I wanted.

Another name I've always liked from Anne of Green Gables is Idlewild. That's what Anne calls the playhouse which she and her friend Diana build in a ring of birch trees. It sounds restful yet brimming with exuberance and abundance. Idlewild would be a wonderful name for a country cottage with a garden of bright flowers like hollyhocks and delphiniums, but it wouldn't suit my flat. I also like Apple Bough from Noel Streatfeild's novel Apple Bough, but it's no good for me as I have no apple trees and no garden to plant any trees in!

[Katharine]

I think as long as it matches the way you would pronounce it, then that is all that matters.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The further discussion of pronunciation and spelling has been moved to the grammar thread as it's more at home there!