Have you ever wondered what inspired your favorite classic novelist to write their stories? What was happening in their lives to inspire their famous works? What was happening in the world at the time that they wrote those stories you love?
Join Host Bree Carlile while she helps to answer some of the questions you have always had about your favorite classic novelists.
For the next few weeks we will talk about the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery. What inspired her to write Anne of Green Gables? What else was happening in the world at the time?
Come with us as we release new episode to go along with each new author on the Bite at a Time Books podcast.
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Information for today's episode came from Wikipedia, don't judge us, we just want to give you a brief glimpse into the life. You can search the episode name in Wikipedia if you want to read for yourself. Thanks!
Transcripts
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Welcome to Bite at a Time.
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Books behind the story where we answer the questions you have about your favorite classic authors.
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What inspired your favorite author to write their novels?
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What was going on in the world at the time follow along with us as we tell you what was happening in the world while your favorite authors wrote your favorite classics.
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My name is bree Carlisle and I love to read and wanted to share my passion with listeners like you.
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If you enjoy our show, be sure to follow us so you get all the new episodes.
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We would also love for you to drop us a rating on your favorite podcast platform and share our show with your friends.
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You can catch us on all the social media's at bite at a time.
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Books if you would also like to hear a story by the author, we are currently featuring check out the Bite at a Time Books podcast wherever you listen to podcasts today, we'll be talking about the publishing disputes and film of lucy maud Montgomery.
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Starting in 1917, Montgomery was engaged in five bitter, costly and burdensome lawsuits with louis Coy's page, owner of the publishing house Elsie paging company.
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That continued until she finally won in 1928.
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Page had a well deserved reputation as one of the most tyrannical figures in american publishing.
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A bully with a ferocious temper who signed his authors to exploitative contracts and liked to humiliate his subordinates, including his mild mannered younger brother George in public, Montgomery received seven cents on the dollar on the sale of every one of the and books instead of the 19 cents on the dollar that she was entitled to.
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Which led her to switch publishers in 1917 when she finally discovered that page was cheating her.
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When Montgomery left the firm of L.
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Page and Company Page demanded she sign over the american rights to Ann's House of Dreams, and when she refused, he cut off the royalties from the earlier and books, even though he did not own the U.
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Rights to Ann's House of Dreams.
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Page sold those rights to the disreputable publishing house of Grosset and Dunlap as a way of creating more pressure on Montgomery to capitulate.
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Instead, Montgomery sued Grosset and Dunlap Page was counting on the fact that he was a millionaire and Montgomery was not and that the prospect of having to spend thousands in legal fees would force her to give in, much to his surprise, she did not Montgomery hired a lawyer in boston and suit Page in the massachusetts Court of Equity for illegally withholding royalties to her and for selling the U.
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Rights to Ann's House of Dreams, which he did not possess.
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In 1920 the house where Montgomery grew up in Cavendish was torn down by her uncle, who complained that too many tourists were coming onto the property to see the house that inspired the house in which an was depicted as growing up, Montgomery was very sentimental about that house and the news of its destruction caused her great pain between May and July 1920, Montgomery was in Boston to attend court sessions with page who taunted her by telling her the and books were still selling well, making him millions.
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In 1920, Montgomery was infuriated with the 1919 film version of Anne of Green Gables for changing an from a Canadian to an American writing in her diary.
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It was a pretty little play, well photographed, but I think if I hadn't already known it was from my book that I would never have recognized it.
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The landscape and folks were new England never Pe island, a skunk and an american flag were introduced both equally unknown in Pe island.
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I could have shrieked with rage over the ladder.
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Such crass, blatant yankee ism reporting on the film's premiere in Los Angeles, one american journalist described anne of green Gables as written by a mr Montgomery who's only mentioned in passing two thirds into the article with the major focus being on the film star mary Miles Minter who was presented as the true embodiment of an Montgomery.
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Disapproved of mentors performance writing.
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She portrayed a sweet, sugary heroine utterly Unlike my gingerly an and complained about a scene in the film where an used a shotgun to threaten people with writing that her and would never do such a thing.
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Montgomery had no say in either the 1919 or 1934 versions of anne of green Gables as the publisher.
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L.
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Page had acquired the film rights to the story in 1908 and as such, all of the royalties paid by Hollywood for both versions of anne of green Gables went to him not Montgomery, Montgomery stopped writing about an in about 1920 writing in her journal that she had tired of the character By February 1921.
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Montgomery estimated that she had made about $100,000 from the sale of the and books while declaring in her diary it's a pity it doesn't buy happiness.
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She preferred instead to create books about other young female characters, feeling that her strength was writing about characters who were either very young or very old.
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Other series written by Montgomery include the Emily and Pat books which while successful did not reach the same level of public acceptance as the and volumes.
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She also wrote a number of standalone novels which were also generally successful if not as successful as her and books On August 20, 1921, Montgomery started writing what became the novel Emily of New Moon as she planned to replace an with Emily as the star of a new series of novels.
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The character Emily was partly autobiographical as Emily's dream was to be a writer when she grew up.
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Unlike an who does not have clear goals about what she wants to be when she grows up.
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Emily.
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Starr knows she wants to be a writer.
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A characteristic she shared with Montgomery.
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One aspect that Emily Ann and Montgomery all shared was the flash, the mystical power that Montgomery called an Emily of New Moon, The wonderful moment when the soul seemed to cast aside the bonds of the flesh and spring upward towards the stars, allowing the soul to see behind the veil to a transcendent beauty.
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In 1925, a Massachusetts court ruled in favor of Montgomery against her publisher, Louis Koo's page as the judge found that he had systematically cheated her out of the profits from the and books since 1908 Page used every conceivable excuse to avoid paying Montgomery what he owed her and after his brother George died of a heart attack in 1927 accused Montgomery of causing his brother's death by suing him for her rightful shares of the royalties.
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In fact, Lewis page was not close to George Who had just left the firm of L.
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page in company to get away from his abrasive and arrogant brother before he died of a heart attack aged 52 in october 1928 Montgomery finally won.
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While page a sore loser to the end, continued to insist in public that she had caused the death of his brother, which he used as a reason why he should not have to pay Montgomery anything page who was a notorious bully waged a campaign of harassment against Montgomery sending her telegrams accusing her of causing his brother's death and the subsequent mental breakdown of his widow by defeating him in court asking her if she was pleased with what she had allegedly done.
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Pages, behavior badly damaged his business.
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As no author chose to publish with a publisher who had revealed himself to be both dishonest and vindictive, and after the 19 twenties pages, publishing house largely depended upon re issuing older books rather than issuing new books, as authors took their business elsewhere.
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On november 7th 1928 Montgomery received a check for the $15,000 out of which auditors had established page had cheated her in terms of sales, both in her lifetime and since Montgomery was the most successful Canadian author of all time, but because her books were seen as Children's books and as women's books, she was often dismissed by the critics who saw Montgomery as merely a writer for school girls and not as a serious writer.
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In 1920 for the Maple Leaf magazine asked its readers to nominate the 14 greatest living Canadians and all of the winners were men.
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Montgomery only made the runners up list to the 14 greatest Canadians coming in at 16.
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However, Montgomery did make it onto another list of the 12 greatest living, Canadian women Hammill argued that Montgomery was successful at managing her fame, but the media's fixation on presenting her as the idealized woman writer, together with her desire to hide her unhappy home life with her husband meant that her creation an whose life was more knowable and easier to relate to overshadowed her both in her lifetime and after Thank you for joining Bite at a Time Books behind the story Today, while we answered some of the questions you have about one of your favorite classic authors.
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