Louisa May Alcott is My Passion
Begun in 2010, this blog offers analysis and reflection by Susan Bailey on the life, works and legacy of Louisa May Alcott and her family. Susan is an active member and supporter of the Louisa May Alcott Society, the Fruitlands Museum and Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House.
from LW 150 blog: Dreaming of "castles in the air" and where they may lead us.
from Pink Umbrella Books: Verena Demel is studying in Munich and brings an interesting perspective to “Camp Lawrence” – great followup to yesterday’s post on the same from the LW 150 blog.
In this blog post series, we’ll feature contributing authors from our new anthology, Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy. Today we’ll catch up with Verena Demel, German student and lover of all things Alcott.
Contributor Verena Demel reads an English version of Little Women surrounded by various translations and adaptations of the novel in Germany. Betty und ihre Schwestern, referenced in her essay, sits on her lap.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
I have to talk about each part of Little Women because for me; the parts are quite different.
Part 1: Actually, impossible! All the Christmas scenes, castles in the air, Jo visiting Laurie, Beth and Mr. Laurence . . . but I would say “Camp Laurence,” the whole chapter. It’s an interesting chapter. It’s very different in some of my distinct retellings of Little Women, like whether Kate Vaughn is really rude…
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From the LW 150 blog: Here’s an interesting take on “Camp Lawrence.”
By A. Waller Hastings
Like many of the chapters of Little Women, chapter 12 – “Camp Laurence” – could be a self-contained short story, moving along a trajectory from the arrival of invitations to the picnic to a satisfactory day’s end, when Mr. Brooke responds to the British Kate’s observation that “American girls are very nice when one knows them” with the comment “I quite agree with you.” What more is needed?
The first half of the book, covering a year in the March family’s lives while Father is away at the war, is constructed as a series of such episodes. If chapter 12 could function independently, though, it also fits into the overall arc of the novel, in two ways. First, it offers additional evidence about the characters and romantic attachments of several characters. And second, it is a rare chapter that makes explicit, if satirical, reference to…
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From Pink Umbrella Books: Having read “The Courtship of Jo March” by Trix Wilkins (and loved it), I was especially interested in her essay, “Why Jo Says No (and Why We Care),” and she nailed it! From “Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy.”
In this blog post series, we’ll feature contributing authors from our new anthology, Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy. Today we’ll catch up with Trix Wilkins, writer, Aussie, and Alcott enthusiast.
Contributor Trix Wilkins, photographed by her seven-year-old son, reads Little Women across from the iconic Sydney Opera House.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
I love the New Year’s Eve ball where Jo and Laurie officially meet. They have an interesting and free-flowing conversation, and of course that wonderful dance in the hallway that happens because Jo says she can’t show the burn in her dress and Laurie says let’s dance anyway. It’s a lot of fun. I think this is the first time in the novel we see Jo unburdened—no thoughts of money or war or work, just joyful moments—and being the person she might always be in the company of such a friend…
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From the LW 150 blog: This is the second of two takes on the chapter, “Experiments.” This is a truly unique insight!
By Mark Gallagher
Louisa May Alcott was deeply affected by the Fruitlands experiment. While she eventually wrote a satirical history of it, her first published commentary on her father’s failed utopia appears in Chapter 11 of Little Women, “Experiments,” where the March sisters indulge in the “all play, and no work” lifestyle that led to Fruitlands’ failure and the near ruin of Alcott’s family.
The chapter begins on June 1st, the same day Fruitlands was founded in 1843. Meg is relieved of her governess duties for the summer, while Jo is reprieved by a vacationing Aunt March. Deciding that lounging is the preferred course of inaction, all four sisters abandon their domestic duties for a week of personal freedom. Mrs. March consents, “You may try your experiment for a week, and see how you like it. I think by Saturday night you will find that all play, and no…
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From LW 150 blog: Not one, but TWO very different takes on this great chapter in Little Women. Here’s the first one.
We are experimenting again this week with two very different looks at the same amazing chapter, one of the richest, wisest, and funniest in the book. Enjoy!
Melissa McFarland Pennell
I did not read Little Women until I was an adult, but since that first encounter, I’ve enjoyed rereading the novel many times and often include it as a text in one of my courses. Perhaps that is why when asked which might be my favorite chapter, I picked “Experiments” –a chapter about lessons learned and the value of trial and error. It is also a chapter about work, presenting some forms of paid employment that women held in the nineteenth century, but also speaking to much of the invisible work that women did and continue to do. For me the key to the chapter is in Marmee’s commentary near its end that “Work . . . gives us a…
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Sunday September 30, 2018 will live in my memory for a long time. This day we celebrated the 150th birthday of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The sparkling Autumn day was the backdrop for scores of Little Women fans -- young and old, men and women, and all the lovely activities making for quite …
From Pink Umbrella Books: Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes contributor Lauren Cutrone’s essay, “Little Women, Feminism and a New Definition of Beauty” points out yet another reason this book can speak to girls today. And it was written at her Louisa May Alcott desk!
In this blog post series, we’ll feature contributing authors from our new anthology, Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy. Today we’ll catch up with Lauren Cutrone, writer, publishing professional, and Jersey girl.
Lauren Cutrone reads Little Women in New Jersey.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
There is a very tiny, seemingly insignificant scene that always comes to me first. In Good Wives, there is a scene where Jo is stuck. She’s in Concord but finds that it’s no longer serving her. She wants to leave, but she has no idea where to go. This leads to Marmee helping Jo to make her way to New York City, but this scene of rare stillness for Jo always sticks out to me. This is such a pivotal moment where Jo decides who she is and who she wants to be. Whenever I feel “stuck,” I remember…
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from LW150 – The P.C. and the P.O
By Lorinda B. Cohoon
“The P. C. and P. O.” chapter recounts a deepening of the friendship between the March family and the Laurence family through Laurie’s admission to the secret society of the Pickwick Club. Both Meg and Amy have reservations about admitting a boy to the club–Mr. Winkle reminds the club members that “[t]his is a ladies’ club, and we wish to be private and proper” (90). Despite these objections, Laurie is voted in as “Sam Weller” once Jo, as Mr. Snodgrass, draws attention to all the ways the members of the Pickwick Club have benefited from the Laurences’ wealth and position: “We can do so little for him, and he does so much for us, I think the best we can do is to offer him a place here, and make him welcome, if he comes” (90). The martin house post office Laurie provides becomes the site…
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From Pink Umbrella Books: contributor Marlowe Daly’s essay, “Literary Lessons” showed to me the heart of a teacher, one who loves both her students and her subject. And Little Women.
In this blog post series, we’ll feature contributing authors from our new anthology, Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy. Today we’ll catch up with Marlowe Daly, who teaches literature, writing, and humanities at Idaho’s Lewis-Clark State College.
Marlowe Daly reads Little Women at the Spalding site of Nez Perce National Park near her home in Idaho. Photo by Anahi Galeano.
If the March sisters were employed where you work, what would their jobs be?
Although Jo and Meg do some teaching, I can’t really picture either of them working at the college where I teach. I’m happy to say that my colleagues are deeply devoted to teaching and make great efforts to continually improve their pedagogy and practice. Meg and Jo, on the other hand, seem to lack a passion for teaching. Even later on, in Little Men and Jo’s Boys, Jo seems more interested in the duties that…
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Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 