They also are teaching a course about Louisa May Alcott this fall, which examines the life and writings of the author. What we now know as the novel “Little Women” was released as two volumes when the first book covering the March sisters’ childhood did well, fans demanded a second volume so they could find out what happened to the sisters as adults.Īnd there was one particular request she resented deeply young girls really, really wanted Jo to marry her neighbor friend Laurie.MANHATTAN - At 150, Louisa May Alcott's classic book for girls, "Little Women," is not getting older - it just keeps getting better, according to two Kansas State University experts on the author and her most famous work.Īnne Phillips and Greg Eiselein, both professors of English, are co-editors of "The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia," released in 2001 "Norton Critical Edition of Alcott's Little Women," 2004 "Critical Insights: Little Women," 2015 and "Critical Insights: Louisa May Alcott," 2016. When adoring fans would knock on the door of her home, she would pretend to be a servant and usher them away. Though she was grateful to finally have financial stability, she was never comfortable with the public acclaim she got from writing something about which she cared little. Released that September, the book was a hit. She also noted that the publisher advised her to retain the copyright, a decision that would soon make her a fortune. Halfway through, she delivered 12 chapters to Niles, confiding in her journal, “He thought it dull so do I.”īut their tunes changed after Niles gave it to some young girls as a test audience they told him it was “splendid.” “As it is for them, they are the best critics, so I should be satisfied,” Alcott wrote in her journal. Never liked girls or knew many, except my sisters but our queer plays and experiences may prove interesting, though I doubt it.”Īlcott plowed through writing the book in two months. N wants a girls’ story, and I begin ‘Little Women.’ … I plod away, though I don’t enjoy this sort of thing. In May 1968, she wrote in her journal, “Mr. Niles agreed to publish it on the condition that his daughter try again to write a novel about girls. Soon afterward, according to Humanities magazine, her father went to the same editor with a manuscript of his philosophical musings. She tried, but found it boring and gave up. An editor friend who worked at a publishing house, Thomas Niles, urged her to write a “simple” novel about girls. Then she dipped her toes into children’s stories, where the market was bigger and the pay slightly better. ![]() She wrote dozens of these stories for women’s magazines but earned only a pittance. These stories featured liberated women following sensational passions across the high seas and in glamorous locales. She also worked as a Civil War nurse, and her written account of this period turned into her first literary success.īut her favorite things to write were suspense novels, which she published under the name A.M. An attempt to start a utopian community failed utterly, deepening his depression, and his wife and daughters were forced to take any work they could to keep the family afloat.Īlcott took on sewing projects, worked as a maid to a rich woman on a trip to Europe, and tried to sell stories she had written to women’s magazines. Once he was fired from his school, he didn’t work again for years. He was also a teacher who was disgraced after publishing a book with ideas about education that were a little too innovative.Īnd he was prone to depression. He hung out with Transcendentalist poets and used the family home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The latest film version, directed by Greta Gerwig, hit theaters Christmas Day.Īlcott’s father, Bronson Alcott, with whom she was close, was also a radical. And though it was semi-autobiographical, she hated it. She was also a feminist, committed to never marrying, and loved to pull up her skirts and go for a long run through the woods.Īlcott’s most famous work, “Little Women,” was nearly the opposite - a light, juvenile novel focused on sisterly love and domestic peace. From an early age, she was an abolitionist. It does include spoilers about “Little Women” the book by Louisa May Alcott, which we have all had 150 years to read.Ībove all else, Louisa May Alcott was a radical. Note: This story does not include spoilers specific to the 2019 film version of “Little Women” directed by Greta Gerwig.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |