Or at least those that a relatively well read American would know

July 21, 2017 6:01 AM

The Most Iconic Books Set in 150 Countries Around the World is probably a deeply silly list, but perhaps fun to argue about on a Friday afternoon?
posted by MartinWisse (82 comments total)

Canada gets The Blind Assassin, which yay, but I'd argue that they should have been bold and just assigned The Handmaid's Tale to the US.
posted by lydhre at 6:06 AM on July 21, 2017 [8 favorites]

Man, it is hard to argue with Dracula for Romania. I'm a bit surprised they didn't go with Harry Potter for the UK, though!
posted by LSK at 6:08 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well, if you're looking for a book about Cote d'Ivoire, I'd recommend either Aya of Yopougon or Allah Is Not Obliged - both of which are by Ivorian authors writing with an Ivorian audience in mind but with good English translations. Aya of Yopougon is a series of graphic novels about a 19-year-old girl living in Abidjan in the 1970s , and Allah Is Not Obliged is the least sentimental and othering book about child soldiers I've ever read.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:13 AM on July 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

It is deeply silly, but it's a list of interesting books, so I'm OK with it.
posted by Segundus at 6:21 AM on July 21, 2017

Atwood herself would have picked Anne of Green Gables.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:25 AM on July 21, 2017 [16 favorites]

I'm a little biased, I suppose, as I went to school with the author but the choice for Bangladesh is a decent one as there are really few other English language novels available that cover that country and its struggles as well.

I think the choice for Canada is a bit confusing. Anne of Green Gables would be be a better choice (oop jinx).
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:26 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

It wouldn't make for a nice infographic or such effective clickbait, but a well-curated list of five or so books from each country (along the lines of ChuraChura's comment above) would be more interesting to me than this list, which seems to basically be "the book you are most likely to have heard of from a bunch of countries."
posted by Dip Flash at 6:27 AM on July 21, 2017

But this is a list of iconic books set in countries. "Iconic" is probably open to interpretation and more than a bit subjective. "Set in" doesn't necessarily mean "from" or even "about".
posted by merlynkline at 6:32 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I see that "A Confederacy Of Dunces" isn't the choice for the USA. Listicle fail.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:36 AM on July 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

I guess "iconic" is it's own special definition and is different from "best" or even "most important."

My immediate outrage: White Tiger for India? I mean, it's ok, not great, borderline racist, and far less widely known than Midnight's Children or The God of Small Things.

I DISAGREE WITH SOME OF THESE!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:43 AM on July 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

I've never read it, only read about it, but: is Alamut actually set in Slovenia?
posted by penduluum at 6:44 AM on July 21, 2017

I don't mean to come off as a crank - clearly a lot of work was put into this - but it is my ultimate pet peeve to see South Sudan left off a map. It's been a country since 2011!!!! Update your base maps, people! You may not have a book for it, but at least acknowledge that it exists.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:44 AM on July 21, 2017 [10 favorites]

Are there really no "iconic" books set in Norway?
posted by modesty.blaise at 6:51 AM on July 21, 2017

I suspect that some people would argue that there is a slightly more iconic book set in Israel.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:55 AM on July 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

For Norway, Kristin Lavransdatter?
posted by lharmon at 6:58 AM on July 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

Portugal gets Blindness, by Saramago, but I really would have gone with something by Eça de Queiroz, although he's not as famous, which I guess is maybe the point?
posted by lollymccatburglar at 6:58 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was also surprised (and perhaps a little happier than LSK?) to see the UK wasn't stuck with Harry fucking Potter. It kind of suggests the other stuff won't be lowest common denominator.
posted by biffa at 6:59 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I bet if you asked people to list the book that most represents their own country, most of these would not be written in english... from a western, most likely American perspective.

Also, if you are a writer and want to be 151 and 152 - set your next book in Togo or Benin...
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:00 AM on July 21, 2017

I'm going with a hard no for The Blind Assassin. I'm also unconvinced by India, Australia, NZ, and pleasantly surprised by UK. I'd need to think more for other countries.
posted by jeather at 7:01 AM on July 21, 2017

Oh, and Zimbabwe gets The Ear, the Eye and the Arm, which I loved as a preteen, but I would never think of it as iconic of that country. I wonder if they considered any other choices?
posted by lollymccatburglar at 7:03 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

My favorite part is the little summaries. Each one is a short, unhelpful, and uninspiring while being way more concerned about about what prizes and other praise it's received or whether it's been turned into a movie.

You'd be hard pressed to say anything that's significantly more useless about Don Quixote than, "Miguel de Cervantes’s iconic classic, Don Quixote, is the best-selling book in history after the Bible and other religious and political texts. When Alonso Quixano decides to leave his quiet study to become a noble knight, hilarity ensues. Through the madcap adventures of the often-delusional protagonist, Cervantes provided commentary on the role and form of contemporary literature."
posted by Copronymus at 7:03 AM on July 21, 2017 [5 favorites]

It seems like this list was mostly compiled by searching for novel [country] on Google. At least when I tried Iceland, Grenada, Venezuela and Slovenia, the top result was the book chosen as most iconic on this list. There are worse ways of choosing a list of books like that, of course.
posted by Kattullus at 7:04 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I see they omitted Kazakhstan, too.

Someone has done a lot of work to put this together, but the idea behind having only one single book that is most iconic for each country is a deeply flawed concept.

And connector lines that cross each other? My topological God, who does this?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:06 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Pleasantly surprised by some of these, such as Brazil. For Haiti I would instead go with The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:10 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

And connector lines that cross each other? My topological God, who does this?

Someone with clickbait skills I can never hope to reach.
posted by jeather at 7:10 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Also, uh, Dictionary of the Khazars for Serbia? I may have to check my map for a second, but I believe it will turn out that Serbia is something like 1000 miles from Khazaria's heartland between the Caspian and the Black Sea.
posted by Copronymus at 7:11 AM on July 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

Portugal gets Blindness, by Saramago, but I really would have gone with something by Eça de Queiroz, although he's not as famous, which I guess is maybe the point?

Where is Cardoso when you need him?
posted by biffa at 7:16 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Copronymus: Also, uh, Dictionary of the Khazars for Serbia?

First result when I google novel serbia on Google is Dictionary of the Khazars. So that might explain that weird result.

I've tried a few more. This doesn't work for countries with well known literatures (e.g. China, Japan, France, Russia) but I tried Laos, Philippines, Cambodia and Brunei and in all cases the top result was the one from the map. Every once in a while it doesn't work, for instance when I googled novel kuwait I didn't get Small Kingdoms as the top result.
posted by Kattullus at 7:26 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ulysses, I'll take that.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 7:28 AM on July 21, 2017

The topological God, a circle whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
posted by Segundus at 7:35 AM on July 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

I see that "A Confederacy Of Dunces" isn't the choice for the USA. Listicle fail.

I'd actually disagree with you on that. Confederacy of Dunces is genius, yeah, and it gives a good sense of place - but that sense of place is specifically New Orleans as opposed to "the United States". It's almost too local for a broad-strokes list like this. Tom Sawyer may also be pretty specifically set in Missouri, but it's not quite as specific, and other small-town regions can see bits of themselves in it as well.

Now, if this were a listicle about 50 of the most iconic books from each state and Confederacy of Dunces weren't at least in the running for Louisiana, that would indeed be a travesty.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 AM on July 21, 2017

I suspect that some people would argue that there is a slightly more iconic book set in Israel.

Perhaps, but while War God of Israel / The Thing with the Three Souls makes for a great Ace Double, it's too pulpy to call it proper literature, right?
posted by MartinWisse at 7:43 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I would have picked The Transylvanian Trilogy for Romania -- Stoker never set foot there so how can Dracula be iconic?
posted by orrnyereg at 7:43 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

They've also switched Morocco and Algeria in the sense that either their lines cross or the both make 90 degree turns at the same point to be able to remain correct. I suspect though that they really just suck at geography.
posted by koolkat at 7:48 AM on July 21, 2017

Three Musketeers for France seems kind of wrong at this point in time, really. It should be Les Miserables, thanks to the worldwide success of the musical and movie.
posted by dnash at 7:57 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Stoker never set foot there so how can Dracula be iconic?

Most the commenters in this thread have been approaching this discussion incorrectly.

As noted above, this list is about the most iconic books, not the best or most important, set in a country, not from or about the country.

It's therefore irrelevant if the author of a work ever set foot in the country. The only criteria for discussion in the context of this list is how well-known the work is, and Dracula, being one of the most well-known books ever written, is certainly above The Transylvanian Trilogy.

This will result in some uncomfortable or wrong-seeming books for certain countries, but that's what the list is. Therefore Harry Potter probably is the right choice for the UK, and surely The Bible would be the one for Israel..
posted by Sangermaine at 8:17 AM on July 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

But The Brief Wondorous Life of Oscar Wao is the wrong choice for the Dominican Republic, since most of it is set in New Jersey.
posted by subdee at 8:23 AM on July 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

Using UK/US authors for other countries is a really poor choice. Dracula is an embarrassment. Hemingway for Cuba rather than Alejo Carpentier, reaaaaally?

Tom Sawyer is a dumb choice for the US. How can you look be looking at Twain and not pick Huckleberry Finn?

Three Kingdoms for China... well, not a bad choice. I'd've gone with Journey to the West or Jin-Ping-Mei. Or, you know, a book published in the last 100 years. (If we look at classic literature, The Odyssey would be a better choice for Greece, and the Ramayana for India.)

(Also, Dictionary of the Khazars is put under Serbia because it was written by a Serb. Also, it's arguably not about the Khazars.)
posted by zompist at 8:38 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Came here to disagree about India too. Seriously, White Tiger, when you have Midnight's Children? Could also argue for A Suitable Boy or The God of Small Things, but White Tiger seems like "recent book you may have heard of from India" rather than a truly "iconic" choice.
posted by peacheater at 8:38 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Sangermaine: This will result in some uncomfortable or wrong-seeming books for certain countries, but that's what the list is. Therefore Harry Potter probably is the right choice for the UK, and surely The Bible would be the one for Israel..

And The Jungle Book for India, surely.
posted by clawsoon at 8:50 AM on July 21, 2017

Tom Sawyer is a dumb choice for the US. How can you look be looking at Twain and not pick Huckleberry Finn?

Who even reads Tom Sawyer anymore? It used to be taught in elementary schools, but I would be surprised if that is still the case today.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:52 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah. This is like a list of "Best-Known Albums of the 90s" and everyone's arguing that the choices weren't the best albums of the 90s.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:53 AM on July 21, 2017

The White Tiger is a really bizarre choice for India. I could understand more obscure and recent books for some countries on the list but there's really a fair number of very well-known books set in India.
posted by armadillo1224 at 8:53 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

I love The Name of the Rose, but they passed Dante's Divine Comedy for that? (also: Il Gattopardo or The Betrothed. Or the AEneid)

I'd rather see Don Quixote there than, say, For Whom the Bell Tolls, so whatevs. But the Cantar de Mio Cid never gets a break.
posted by sukeban at 8:58 AM on July 21, 2017

Geez what --

"Most iconic" doesn't even make grammatical sense to me based on my understanding of the words "icon" and "most". I understand (boy, do I understand) that language changes, but does it always have to change in the direction of stupid?

Cyprus gets the Shakespeare play Othello as its most iconic book -- but Denmark doesn't get Hamlet? How is Othello an icon of Cyprus? Othello is as much about Cyprus as Mork and Mindy is about Denver. Or as much as Waiting for Godot is about France.

The list makes Beowulf the icon of Denmark. Hamlet is a prince of Denmark. His father and uncle are king of Denmark. Denmark wasn't even a country when Beowulf was written. Beowulf is a prince (later king) of the Geats -- from Sweden. Most of the action in Beowulf takes place in what is now Sweden. I suggest the compilers read beyond the first paragraph of the Wiccuhpeedia articles this is based upon.

Are there really no "iconic" books set in Norway?

Ah here ya go. Norway can have Hamlet. Yeah, nearly all the action in Hamlet takes place in the palace of Denmark, and most of the characters are members of the royal house of Denmark. But after all, Prince Fortinbras -- of Norway -- deuxes up his machine at the end of Hamlet to save the dayscript. So let's give Hamlet to Norway. It's extremely iconic.

Or for Norway, how about Snow Treasure (Marie McSwigan, 1942). It was extremely iconic of Norway for me when I was a child. In fact it was the only story I knew that took place in Norway. How iconic is that? Very. Very iconic.
 
posted by Herodios at 9:10 AM on July 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

Fun fact: I'm a Dane and the first time I heard about Beowulf was when it was mentioned in an Introduction to English Literature class. And I was a bookish kid/young adult.

I'd humbly suggest Tom Kristensen's Havoc - and if that's too obscure, then Peter Hoeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow.
posted by kariebookish at 9:14 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm a little biased, I suppose, as I went to school with the author but the choice for Bangladesh is a decent one as there are really few other English language novels available that cover that country and its struggles as well.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:26 AM on July 21

I haven't read A Golden Age, but K. Anis Ahmed's The World In My Hands is quite a good satirical look at Bangladesh's current political situation (it's set in a fictitious country but it's clearly Bangladesh), although I found the depiction of the female characters a little meh. He writes really beautifully, though. (If you were interested in reading novels set in modern Dhaka, I really enjoyed The Inheritance Powder.)
posted by Ziggy500 at 9:19 AM on July 21, 2017

The topological God, a circle whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

The Topological God is the one where the space between its contour lines is simultaneously 0 and infinite.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:34 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

How did Voices from Chernobyl get assigned to Belarus? The author is Belarusian, and Chernobyl may be near Belarus, but it's in Ukraine. (Not to mention that both were part of the Soviet Union at the time, so it's probably more accurate to say it's "set in" the Soviet Union.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:35 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Surely "iconic" automatically carries with it a "within a particular culture" constraint? I mean, I'd expect a Chinese version of this list to look substantially different, but not deferring much more to actual local authors than an American one does.
posted by praemunire at 9:35 AM on July 21, 2017

Can someone explain how Liechtenstein gets Seven Years in Tibet? Harrer was Austrian through and through.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:35 AM on July 21, 2017

Canada gets The Blind Assassin, which

... is no Lost in the Barrens
posted by philip-random at 9:43 AM on July 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

Are there really no "iconic" books set in Norway?

Hamsun had several books set in Norway in addition to the excellent Hunger chosen for this list. I prefer Growth of the Soil because I like tedium in general, but Hunger is a good choice.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:12 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

And the US choice is iconic, certainly, but the US is so many countries, as we are reminded constantly and sometimes to our detriment. I wanted to say East of Eden or Cannery Row but those are very much California books.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:15 AM on July 21, 2017

You'd be hard pressed to say anything that's significantly more useless about Don Quixote than...

Don Quixote, (pronounced "quinoa") is a large Spanish novel, weighing 1.2 pounds in the hardcover edition. It's about a windmill who has a fight with someone. The author died.
posted by storybored at 10:45 AM on July 21, 2017 [13 favorites]

I've heard of three of these books, read one & seen the movie adaptation of another.

(insert rant about Under The Volcano not representing Mexico here)
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:27 AM on July 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

I get why 2666 wasn't chosen for Mexico, but I'm disappointed it wasn't.
posted by pxe2000 at 11:36 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Othello is as much about Cyprus as Mork and Mindy is about Denver."

Othello at least partly takes place in Cyprus. Mork and Mindy is set in Boulder.
posted by Guy Smiley at 11:50 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

DevilsAdvocate: How did Voices from Chernobyl get assigned to Belarus? The author is Belarusian, and Chernobyl may be near Belarus, but it's in Ukraine. (Not to mention that both were part of the Soviet Union at the time, so it's probably more accurate to say it's "set in" the Soviet Union.)

As with many of the weird choices, it's down to a Google search. Voices from Chernobyl is the top result when searching Google for: novel Belarus.
posted by Kattullus at 11:50 AM on July 21, 2017

I get why 2666 wasn't chosen for Mexico, but I'm disappointed it wasn't.

I have trouble arguing with their choice of Pedro Paramo, though I would also like Signs Preceding the End of the World.
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:11 PM on July 21, 2017

Canada gets The Blind Assassin, which...

....is no surprise given he was standing around in the open in a large sombrero. A cinch for Canada to put him in the crosshairs of her beloved Dragunov 7.62 mm sniper rifle. A doddle for her to gently squeeze the cool metal trigger. A real pain though to try to get a refund
for a sombrero with a hole in it.
posted by storybored at 12:27 PM on July 21, 2017

Denmark wasn't even a country when Beowulf was written.

There's a lot wrong with the choice of Beowulf for Denmark, but the king of Danes is a character in it, and Denmark was certainly a thing at the time. It's not a young country.
posted by Dysk at 12:29 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wow - I can argue with SO MANY of these!!!
posted by Mchelly at 12:33 PM on July 21, 2017

If only Dee Xtrovert still posted here, she could tell you that not only was The Dictionary of the Khazars definitely a Serbian book, but why you shouldn't feel good about owning a copy. Either version.
posted by Grangousier at 12:42 PM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

if this were a listicle about 50 of the most iconic books from each state and Confederacy of Dunces weren't at least in the running for Louisiana, that would indeed be a travesty.

I thought we talked about the iconic book for each state a few years ago in the blue, but I can't find it anywhere. Those people chose All the King’s Men for Louisiana, which is hard to argue. (Well, some people can argue anything.)

If you did a iconic book for each major city, I certainly wouldn't argue with A Confederacy of Dunces for New Orleans.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:57 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

{looks at the choice for Sweden}

No. Simply wrong. The choice for Sweden is, should be, Popular Music from Vittula. Apart from the fact that only the bible has sold more copies there, it's as on-point as you can get for a book about a rural upbringing.
posted by Wordshore at 1:09 PM on July 21, 2017

Pakistan-wise, I would have thought A Case of Exploding Mangoes was more famous? Anyway, if it isn't it should be.
posted by Rush-That-Speaks at 1:47 PM on July 21, 2017

Why is Graham Greene in multiple catagories? Why the Blind Assasin and not the Edible Woman, if we need Margaret Atwood?
posted by Valancy Rachel at 1:49 PM on July 21, 2017

I assume the point of the list was to enrage everyone from every country. Nicely done.
posted by Aravis76 at 2:05 PM on July 21, 2017 [9 favorites]

I thought we talked about the iconic book for each state a few years ago in the blue

Previously on US states. Plus that post has links to lots of Ask questions about books from or about different countries. Useful!
posted by asperity at 3:06 PM on July 21, 2017

I'd disagree with a lot of the choices being from authors who don't reside in those countries, or have large portions of the novel set in other countries (looking at you, Oscar Wao), or are by iconic national authors whose novels aren't set in their country and therefore don't capture that sense of place you'd expect from a novel on this list.
Switzerland's and Russia's examples - they work. Portugal? Blindness is one of my favorite novels, but I don't really get a feel for Portugal.

As a counterpoint though, some of these are darn good reads that for some people, are going to be the entry points into exploring that country's culture through literature. If someone is looking to expand their reading circle beyond the world of white male authors, they could do worse than dipping into this list.
posted by chronic sublime at 3:42 PM on July 21, 2017

What a coincidence that the most iconic book set in Korea is also the only book set in Korea that anyone in Europe has ever read.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:57 PM on July 21, 2017

Aravis76: I assume the point of the list was to enrage everyone from every country. Nicely done.

At first I was rather happy that Iceland was represented by the sagas. It felt like someone with a basic knowledge of Icelandic literature had thought about it, considered other more recent options, then opted for the right one. That was until I realized that this was simply the result of googling for novel iceland and picking the first result. Heck, they even chose the same random collection with the same cover as the one that comes up as the top Google result.

It's clear this was done by someone with no knowledge of Icelandic literature, who didn't bother to contact anyone with any knowledge of Icelandic literature (they would probably have opted for a specific saga, most likely either Njals saga or Egils saga). Whoever made this infographic probably didn't bother to contact anyone with knowledge of the various countries represented.

At first this list made me excited, now I feel hoodwinked. Who's this know-nothing to fake knowledge of the entire world's national literatures? This is cultural appropriation on an absurd scale, done on the cheap.
posted by Kattullus at 5:12 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I came in to say that the Canadian choice is crazy. Anne of Green Gables, love it, hate it, prefer other Montomgery books (The Blue Castle is the best), whatever - is clearly the most iconic Canadian book. Not the best, just the most iconic. When they built a Canadaland theme park in Hokkaido, it was really an "Anne of Green Gables" theme park, complete with Canadian kids playing Anne and Diana.
posted by jb at 5:13 PM on July 21, 2017 [8 favorites]

Yeah, I would have picked Egil's saga for Iceland - or maybe the Prose Edda, though I don't know if those stories are set there.
posted by jb at 5:14 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Man, it is hard to argue with Dracula for Romania.

Well, there is the fact that no part of it takes place within the borders of the 19th century state of Romania. ;)
posted by mark k at 7:04 PM on July 21, 2017

I think 'Cloudstreet' is an excellent choice for Australia. Of course, I love the book so I would.
posted by h00py at 8:08 AM on July 22, 2017

The website is Australian, so it makes sense that the Australian pick would be pretty good.
posted by Kattullus at 8:20 AM on July 22, 2017

Anne of Green Gables, love it, hate it, prefer other Montomgery books (The Blue Castle is the best), whatever - is clearly the most iconic Canadian book.

And yet Neuromancer, written by an American draft dodger from a punk rock infested squat in Vancouver (still just a backwater at the far edge of the British Empire in the early 1980s), has magnitudes more to say about what it actually means to be Canadian in the here and now.

seriously, how is narrowing an entire nation's literature down to one selection not the worst sort of cultural tourism?
posted by philip-random at 10:57 AM on July 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I haven't read A Golden Age

Golden Age, when it came out, had a big push internationally and was one of the only books in the English language written from a woman's perspective on the Bangladeshi Liberation. It is not without some flaws but its pretty readable and an accessible window into that period. And as other point out "iconic" kind of means whatever comes up in a Google search. I will have to check out those other books - thanks for the recommendations!
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:10 PM on July 22, 2017

seriously, how is narrowing an entire nation's literature down to one selection not the worst sort of cultural tourism?
posted by philip-random at 1:57 PM on July 22 [1 favorite +] [!]

probably - but as a Canadian - seriously, that's the book people know that's set in Canada.
posted by jb at 9:34 AM on July 23, 2017

When they built a Canadaland theme park in Hokkaido, it was really an "Anne of Green Gables" theme park, complete with Canadian kids playing Anne and Diana.

The very existence of the Green Gables replica, and of Canadian World itself, is a testament to Japan's deep love for Anne of Green Gables, says Mr Dawes, who visited Japan in 2014 to film a documentary on that subject.

This love began just before the outbreak of the Second World War [1939 --H], when a Canadian missionary gave her student Hanako Muraoka a copy of the book. It continues to this day with an anime series, manga comics and several Japanese movies inspired by the story.

In this way, Anne became not just a Western cultural import, but a part of Japanese culture itself, interpreted and re-interpreted by Japanese artists and writers for a primarily Japanese audience.

"Generally speaking, we are good at imitating," says Yukari Yoshihara, a literature teacher at the University of Tsukuba who includes Anne in her first-year curriculum. "Anne of Green Gables is a part of this larger culture of adaptations."

-- BBC on't
-- Anne Of Japan film site
posted by Herodios at 6:10 AM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]