In my opinion, a truly new reflection on Beth and the loveliest I have ever read. Thank you Sandra Burr!
Chapter VI. Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful
Chapter V. Being Neighborly
A lovely post about Jo’s first meetup with Laurie, and reminder to us all to be good neighbors.
By Sarah Wadsworth
Looking through the clear plastic dust jacket of my childhood copy of Little Women is like peering through a window: behind the transparent āpane,ā Marmee plays the piano while the girls joyously sing. Inside, a bookplate signed in my neatest thirteen-year-old hand takes me from the Marchesā parlor to my own family home. I turn the page and an inscriptionāāDecember 1976 / Merry Christmas Sarahāācalls to mind the kindness of the giver to a book-loving girl growing up, like Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, in a home defined by a fatherās absence as well as a motherās presence.
In āBeing Neighborly,ā kindness is key. The adjective ākindā appears four times, ākindlyā three times, and ākinderā once. Kindness is made manifest in acts of thoughtful generosity, each one begetting reciprocal acts in kind. Eager to make friends, Jo arrives at the Laurence house bearing three kittens from Bethā¦
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A Tale of Two Editors: the makings of The Little Women Legacy
A great interview by Trix Wilkins of the Much Ado about Little Women blog with Merry Gordon and Marnae Kelly of Pink Umbrella Books and their newest release, “Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy.”
I had to ask: Team Laurence or Team Bhaer? Editors Merry Gordon and Marnae Kelly talk Jo Marchās ending, how theyād put the March sisters to work at Pink Umbrella Books (not just work of course ā theyād go on holiday too), and surprises forĀ fans in the to-be-released anthology, Alcottās Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy.
Jo Marchās ending ā Jo with Friedrich Bhaer, Jo with Theodore Laurence, Jo single, or something else?
MERRY: Iām Team Friedrich. Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but Laurie is such a puppy.
MARNAE: Iām a big Bhaer fan because of the equality of minds in that relationship and the opportunities for growth in both characters.
Who of all the March sisters would you go on holiday with, where would you go, and why?
MERRY: Iād take an English holiday with Jo ā specifically to hit up the literary landmarks, as we are kindred spirits that way.
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A conversation with Anne Boyd Rioux on “Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters”
Back in July at the Summer Conversational Series at Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House, I had the privilege of conversing with author and Alcott scholar Anne Boyd Rioux about her new book, Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters.Ā You can listen in as I fashioned it into a …
Chapter IV. Burdens
From the new Little Women 150 blog reflecting each week on a chapter in Alcottās classic, here is chapter four: Little Women 150 By Sandra Harbert Petrulionis The central concerns of āBurdensā may be character development and self-education, but within its domestic lessons, this chapter also foregrounds the inequities of Civil War- era America. It …
Chapter III. The Laurence Boy
From the new Little Women 150 blog reflecting each week on a chapter in Alcott’s classic, here is chapter three:
We are going to experiment this week by offering two different perspectives on the same chapter, both by distinguished Alcott scholars. The ways they complement each other, intersect, and diverge areĀ fascinating. Enjoy!
Take One
ByĀ Eve LaPlante
In the gender-bending world of Little Women, the Laurence boy plays an important role. A lovely, compassionate, accommodating young man with a girlās name, Laurie serves as a mirror to our heroine, Jo, a daring and ambitious young woman with a āgentlemanly demeanorā and a male-sounding name. Itās clear from the start that Laurie and Jo are a pair, two cross-gendered friends who seem more typical of the modern era than a century and a half in the past.
It seems fair to ask ā given that Jo and her sisters were inspired by the four Alcott girls and that no Alcott boy existed (much to the dismay of Louisaās father, Bronson) āā¦
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Chapter II. A Merry Christmas
From the new Little Women 150 blog reflecting each week on a chapter in Alcott’s classic, here is chapter two:
ByĀ Katherine Paterson
Of course I wanted to be Jo. Thereās nothing unusual about that. Is there a single womanās writer of my generation that didnāt identify with her? Meg was dutiful and a bit prim, Amy was self-centered and a flibberty-gibbit. And Beth, well, of course we cried when she died, but, honestly, just between us, wasnāt she a bit tediously angelic? But Jo! She actually did things.
I remember coming into the house one day after a bout of street football with the neighborhood boys. In the living room my mother was entertaining at tea. As I listened to the cacophony of soprano voices I was struck with a sudden horror. I might have to grow up and be a woman. And all they did was talk.
In addition to her Tomboy ways, Jo was a great reader, which I certainly was, and a writer, which I didnāt thinkā¦
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Chapter I. Playing Pilgrims
From the new Little Women 150 blog reflecting each week on a chapter in Alcott’s classic, here is chapter one:
By Jan Turnquist
I love the opening lines of Little Women. āChristmas wonāt be Christmas without any presents,ā may not be on a list of āBest Opening Lines,ā but it is on my personal list of favorites.Ā From the very start, this chapter offers a feeling of optimism and life even while introducing the four sisters in the midst of a difficult moment.Ā Ā This first chapter, āPlaying Pilgrims,ā establishes the personalities of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy as refreshingly real and imperfect.Ā They tease and squabble as siblings do. But they are also warm companions in a home that is a safe refuge from a cold and dangerous world set against the backdrop of the Civil War.Ā Right from the beginning the reader can experience that Little WomenĀ is a story based on love.
My experience at Orchard House has blended inexorably with my experience of the book itself.Ā Because
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Enough Little Women reboots — how about a full-length movie about the author?
The recent article in the Atlantic titled āThe Lie of Little Womenā by Sophie Gilbert (September 2018 issue) got me to thinking: when will someone step up and make a film about the real-life Jo March, Louisa May Alcott? I am not talking about another documentary; the American Masters film made by Nancy Porter and …
Continue reading "Enough Little Women reboots — how about a full-length movie about the author?"
Summer Conversational Series 2018: Gabrielle Donnelly āPeppery Old Ladies: Aunt Marchās Literary Line from Betsey Trotwood to Aunt Petuniaā
The concluding talk of the series was by Gabrielle Donnelly who gave a most informative and entertaining presentation on literary aunts, beginning with Aunt March from Little Women. Not often talked about, Gabrielle was inspired to examine Aunt March after Angela Lansburyās iconic portrayal in the Little Women Masterpiece series. Aunt March Gabrielle maintained that …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 