"I think it well to search for truth everywhere": Religious Identity and the Construction of the Self in L M Montgomery's "Selected Journals"

Abstract

This thesis considers the religious identity that Lucy Maud Montgomery constructed in The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery. As an adequate theoretical model to study religion in modern autobiography is not available, this thesis approaches the Selected Journals with a "social construction" model (adapted from autobiography theory on gender) in a consideration of her religious identity. Montgomery's religious self-constructions---as unorthodox, Presbyterian, and a seeker of truth---are considered in successive chapters through close readings of passages from her journals. Though her separate self-constructions are apparently paradoxical, I argue that Montgomery's overall religious identity is nonetheless fairly consistent with her most crucial religious self-construction---that of being a seeker of truth---and that she ultimately presents herself in her journals as having faith centred on hope. In conclusion, I offer reflections on the need for the development of an autobiography theory in which religion is regarded as an important aspect of identity.