The Return of Anne of Green Gables: Focusing on Anne Shirley’s Psychological Self-Help and Emotional Narrative of Confession

Lucy M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908) has enjoyed long-standing popularity since its first Korean translation in the early 1960s. However, the recent return of this beloved Canadian classic took a somewhat unexpected form. In 21st century Korea, Anne Shirely, the novel’s heroine, is a therapeutic mentor of positivity and hope. Through a critical examination of Anne’s upbringing and education, this paper explores the context in which Anne of Green Gables is resonating in the contemporary Korean society. In so doing, this paper examines how Anne’s power of imagination, previously understood within the culture and literature of girlhood, became a source of healing for the belabored subject of contemporary capitalism.