When Michalina Wesołowska first read the classic 1911 translation of Anne of Green Gables as a young girl in Poland, she almost couldn’t finish it.
“It was too sad,” she recalls. “Especially when Marilla wanted to send Anne away. That was so heartbreaking for me! And of course, Matthew’s death...”
But the book clearly left a profound impression, for Wesołowska went on to make Anne Shirley — arguably the most iconic character in Canadian fiction — the subject of her bachelor’s and master’s theses.
Now completing her PhD studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, Wesołowska recently got the opportunity to make an even deeper dive into her favourite subject. She spent the 2024–25 school year in Canada researching Anne as the recipient of a Joanna DeMone Award.
Administered by the Department of Slavic & East European Languages & Cultures, the prize is offered annually to two visiting students from Poland who are enrolled in the study of language and literature.
Wesołowska’s dissertation analyzes not only the Anne of Green Gables saga, comprising multiple novels and short stories, but its many reinterpretations in a variety of media.
“I felt that the whole vitality of this narrative has not been properly explored,” she says. “I’m writing about how this universe was initially created by Lucy Maud Montgomery, then expanded by other creators: translators, movie and theatre directors, and other writers.”
Since its first publication in 1908, Anne of Green Gables has captivated readers around the world. Many people know how popular she is in Japan — Anne inspires countless tourist pilgrimages from that country to Prince Edward Island each year, and was once the subject of a now-defunct theme park on the island of Hokkaido.
But not as many people know about how wildly popular she is in Poland.
People so often discuss why Anne got married and why she stopped writing. It’s interesting that we have this need to think about it. And it says something that the first book is our favourite. We still love her most when she is a child.
Wesołowska explains that the book was translated into Polish just three years after it first came out. At the time, Poland was a partitioned state yearning for independence, which would not be restored until 1918.
“Our juvenile fiction before Anne was rather didactic, very patriotic,” Wesołowska says. “And Anne was this absolutely new character for us, because she was not brought up to be a good wife and a good mother to future soldiers who would fight to regain Poland’s independence. She was this whole person with so many passions. She was outspoken. She was transgressive. She could argue with adults, she had big dreams and ambitions, and she was not afraid to talk about them very straightforwardly.”
The initial translation was held as the gold standard. In it, names were rendered in Polish: Anne became Ania, Marilla became Maryla, Matthew became Mateusz.
Then in 2022 a new version came out, which changed the canonical 1911 title, translated as Ania of Green Hill, to one that better approximated the original.
“The translator, Anna Bańkowska, also kept all the names in their original form,” says Wesołowska. “This was hugely controversial in Poland. She was accused of destroying people’s childhoods!”
Anne went on to live her life story in eight subsequent books. Over the course of them, she works as a teacher, graduates from university, becomes a school principal, and later resigns her position before marrying her “frenemy” Gilbert and becoming a mother to seven children. Sadly perhaps, the intensely creative girl does not fulfill her ambition to be a professional writer.
“People so often discuss why Anne got married and why she stopped writing,” Wesołowska says. “It’s interesting that we have this need to think about it. And it says something that the first book is our favourite. We still love her most when she is a child.”
Over the years, Anne has become almost as well-loved in many other countries. She was even the inspiration for another iconic red-headed character, this time in Sweden: Pippi Longstocking.
“There’s quite a bit of research on the influence that Montgomery had on Astrid Lindgren, who created Pippi,” says Wesołowska. “Pippi Longstocking is very much based on Anne, but moves farther in her transgression, becoming fully emancipated while still a child.”
I’m very grateful to Joanna DeMone, and to the Polish studies team at U of T for their warm welcome and generous support. Being here has been a great adventure on so many levels.
Montgomery’s 150th birthday was last year, and lately there has been a renewed interest in her life. Megan Follows, the actor who played the television world’s most cherished version of Anne in the 1985 CBC mini-series, is set to play the author in an upcoming television series.
Wesołowska plans to spend her final two weeks in Canada following Montgomery’s path. Her plans will include visits to Montgomery museums in Norval and Leaskdale, Ontario.
“This is very moving for me,” she says. “Montgomery’s last home was in Toronto, and she called her house Journey’s End. It feels symbolic for me to have my research journey begin where her journey ended.
“I’m very grateful to Joanna DeMone, and to the Polish studies team at U of T for their warm welcome and generous support. Being here has been a great adventure on so many levels.”