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 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!
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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The newest addition to the Little Women movie library is a modern adaptation, bringing the classic story by Louisa May Alcott into the 21st century. Directed by Clare Niederpruem and starring Lea Thompson as Marmee and Sarah Davenport as Jo, “Little Women” is a mixed bag that ultimately hits its mark. There are many liberties …
From Pink Umbrella Books: KL Allendoerfer offers some fascinating insight; and as one introvert to another (and a Beth fan), her essay in Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes presented wonderful reasons to pay attention to the kitten-loving girl with the beat-up dolls.
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 KL Allendoerfer, California-based writer, science educator, and musician.
Contributor KL Allendoerfer reads Little Women with “Pie,” the ubiquitous green droid in front of Silicon Valley’s Googleplex.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
It would be easy to say my favorite scene is the one I wrote about in my essay, in which Beth thanks Mr. Lawrence for the use of his piano and they become friends. I do love that scene, but there are so many others as well. I think the one that most got under my skin, and that I remembered many years later, was Jo’s disaster of a dinner party when Marmee decides to let the girls run things themselves. It shows Louisa has a wonderful sense of…
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from LW150 blog: How many of you longed to be part of the cool crowd? “Meg goes to Vanity Fair”
By Dee Anne Anderson
Little Women is the book of my older childhood. Some people have Anne of Green Gables, the Nancy Drew series, or other books about intrepid and plucky young women. But for me, it will always be the March sisters. I read and re-read Volume 1 of the novel throughout upper grade school. (Volume 2 was not as interesting to me at that age, and so I often skipped it and just returned to the beginning.)
Of course, Jo was the character with whom I most closely identified and wanted to imitate. She was brave and fierce and deeply loyal to her sisters. But as I entered those awkward middle school years, one bit of Little Women came to mind often. When “Meg goes to Vanity Fair” in Chapter Nine, I went with her. Meg wanted to fit in with the cool girls, and she wanted…
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From Pink Umbrella Books: interview with contributor Lorraine Tosiello; her essay is called “Piccole Donne” (Little Women in Italian). If you love Little Women, Louisa, the Beatles, Italian families and sisters, you will love this wonderful essay.
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 Lorraine Tosiello, physician, writer, and lifelong Little Women aficionado.
Contributor Lorraine Tosiello reads Little Women under the watchful eye of her “neighbor,” the Empire State Building.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
For me, there’s no scene in the book that comes anywhere near the betrothal scene “under the umbrella” between Jo and Professor Bhaer. It is wise and sentimental, humorous and poignant, ridiculous and powerful all at once. Jo rushes downtown to find Friedrich, she finds him and he says he is leaving town, she stifles her emotions, he gets confused, they shop for everyone else but themselves, and she blubbers, “You are going away!” And then come my two favorite images in the whole book: Friedrich says that he…
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From Pink Umbrella for Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: interview with contributor Deborah Davis Schlacks – her essay, “Pilgrim’s Regress” is powerful about finding the courage to speak up, and how the ability to write can send the message. She of course, cites Louisa as her inspiration.
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 Deborah Davis Schlacks, recently retired Professor Emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Contributor Deborah Davis Schlacks reading her Companion Library edition of Little Women at Fairlawn Mansion in Superior, Wisconsin.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
My favorite is the scene where it is revealed that Jo has cut off her hair and sold it to finance her mother’s trip to tend to her ailing father. Jo’s willingness to sacrifice “her one beauty” to the sake of someone she loved was the first thing that impressed me about it way back when I first read Little Women. And it is also so important that in giving up her long hair, she is making a decision not to let physical beauty—which is…
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From the LW150 blog by Kathryn Graham: This is probably one of the most memorable chapters in Little Women. I think of my fierce temper as my “Beast;” a part of my creative temperament that must be controlled yet channeled. I wonder if Louisa thought that way too?
By Kathryn V. Graham
Now it’s Jo’s turn–after individuated attention paid to Beth and Amy in chapters 6 and 7, where the former finds the Palace Beautiful and the latter suffers her Valley of Humiliation, and before Meg’s Chapter 9 trial at Vanity Fair. These four clustered titles offer strong allusions to Bunyan’s Pilgrim’sProgress, but Jo’s encounter with Apollyon is the knottiest of the references. Even a reader unversed in Bunyan would have no trouble grasping the other three concepts. But who (or what) is Apollyon, and what does this encounter mean for Jo?
Jo has experienced the devastating loss of the sole copy of her hand-written collection of fairy tales, “the loving work of several years,” a project she hoped to share with her father and see in print. Amy has burned Jo’s manuscript in a fit of pique after being excluded from an excursion to the…
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Meet another author from “Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes: The Little Women Legacy” – K.R. Karr, West Coast writer and academic – loved her essay on Goethe, her grandmother Oma, and the suitability of Professor Bhaer for Jo.
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 K.R. Karr, West Coast writer and academic.
Contributor K.R. Karr on Puget Sound with the Washington State Ferry in the background. Photo credit: Kristina Berger.
What is your favorite scene from Little Women?
My favorite scene from Little Women is when Jo comes home with her hair cut, having sold it to pay for Marmee’s train ticket after Mr. March is wounded in battle. This scene really demonstrates to me Jo’s inner qualities, as well as her love for her family.
Who are some of your other “imaginary heroes” from literature?
I love this phrase “imaginary heroes” and some of mine include Emily of Deep Valley, Jane Eyre, Cassandra Mortmain of I Capture the Castle, Renee in Colette’s The Vagabond, Lucy Honeychurch…
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Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 