Browsing by Author "Jelin, Hanna"

Descriptions of scents, fragrances and nature abound in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s first three Anne of Green Gables stories, acting as a vehicle of sensorially immersive storytelling. Olfactive descriptions in literary storytelling have not been widely studied before, the focus of research having been primarily on visual descriptions in literature. During recent years, more interest has surfaced in expanding academic scholarship to cover and study literary descriptions of the other four senses. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to this budding field of studying embodied cognition and narratology, and to present interpretations of scented narration to explain why fragranced descriptions feature in such great numbers throughout Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island. This thesis argues that through developing an understanding and aesthetic appreciation for the different nuances of olfactive descriptions in L. M. Montgomery’s narration, we as readers gain a deeper understanding of Anne Shirley’s character and her maturing process. In order to assess how these embodied descriptions and experiences of nature are applied to illustrate the character development and maturing of the novels’ protagonist Anne Shirley, a close reading of the three above-mentioned stories is used. The theoretical framework of this thesis consists of theories within embodied cognition and narratology, as well as perspectives from environmental aesthetics. My findings indicate that fragranced descriptions demonstrate individual development and maturing, as well as act as signifiers of deep connection, nostalgia and sense of belonging with people and places in the storyline of L.M. Montgomery’s abovementioned three works. Furthermore, cognitive literary theory suggests that immersive embodied descriptions and experiences of nature can be understood and taken up by the reader as constructed situation models.