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.
I am pleased to present this guest post by Lisa Francesca who is currently researching Carlotta Norton Smith, an art editor in New York’s Gilded Age. May Alcott Nieriker’s guide, Studying Art Abroad: And How to Do It Cheaply (Roberts Brothers, 1879), reads like a confidential chat over tea with a wise and experienced friend. …
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Please note that the book is currently unavailable for purchase due to errors on the part of the publisher. The editors are working closely with Routledge to correct this situation. Once settled, The Forgotten Alcott will be made available for purchase again. On behalf of the editors and fellow contributors, I apologize for …
Titled The Forgotten Alcott Essays on the Artistic Legacy and Literary Life of May Alcott Nieriker, This book is truly a labor of love and I am so grateful to our distinguished editors, Lauren Hehmyer and Azelina Flint for all of their hard work in bringing this book to life. The book is available through …
Continue reading "It’s out! The first academic study of May Alcott Nieriker is now available."
This is a series of scenes that I wrote for fun a few years ago. Sometimes I wish I didn’t work so slowly! I hope I stay healthy long enough to write a novel as well as a biography. I really love taking Lizzie’s point of view and seeing life as I imagine it through her eyes. But I can always write scenes. 🙂
This is the first draft.
My first memory was of his face. It was a kind face with blue eyes like still pools, and I could see myself in them. Such a sweet countenance, one I could look at from morning till night. It broke into a smile, and a quiet voice spoke my name: “Elizabeth.” My arms shot up in an instant, hoping he would lift me. He granted my wish, and as I snuggled close to his chest, he looked into…
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Smithsonian.com thinks so. Writer Erin Blakemore presents her hopes that Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women will finally present a well-rounded and fair portrayal of the most maligned of the March sisters by borrowing from the rich life of May Alcott Nieriker. The New ‘Little Women’ May Finally Do Justice to Its Most Controversial Character …
Continue reading "Greta Gerwig’s Little Women: Will Amy March finally catch a break?"
Thanks to Lorraine Tosiello for this great find -this 15 minute biopic is pretty good! It makes me wonder if it was made in conjunction with Madeleine B. Stern's biography of Louisa released in the same year. Judging from what it included in this film, it makes me thing there was some connection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMu2OPoXDsg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1qW9Y-UieXTjLi1AY7CgL-Iqb4Kk62DAnqBswNxdIvEn2QYnfqYsyyt6I
I am pleased to share with you a wonderful essay about the professional lives of Louisa May Alcott and May Alcott Nieriker written by Lauren Hehmeyer, a professor of History and English at Texarkana College. Professor Hehmeyer presented at the May Alcott conference in Paris in June of 2018 (see previous post) and is currently …
Before May Alcott left for Europe to study and become a professional artist, she gave lessons from a studio at Orchard House which her father Bronson made for her. A student of hers created one of the most iconic pieces of sculpture in America: One of his first commissioned works is in Concord: That artist …
Continue reading "Meet the artist to whom May Alcott acted as mentor: Daniel Chester French"
I am pleased to present a most interesting and insightful essay on May Alcott Nieriker by Azelina Flint, an Alcott scholar from Great Britain who organized a conference in Paris last year called "Recovering May Alcott Nieriker's Life and Work." It begins with an intriguing letter written by May to her father, Bronson when she …
Continue reading "A fresh examination of May Alcott Nieriker: Did Genius Burn?"
from the LW 150 blog: “Amy’s Will” – very interesting account of Amy’s Catholic moment.
By Monika Elbert
I am interested in Catholicism and the rosary’s presence within this very New England novel. In “Amy’s Will,” the Gothic momentarily intrudes in Aunt March’s household, where poor Amy is a captive slave in her role as attendant to the old woman. Aunt March’s maid, Esther, the “French woman” who is forced to change her name from the more Frenchified “Estelle”—“on condition that she was never asked to change her religion”—brings a sense of exoticism with “odd stories of her life in France” (192) and with her Catholic customs. Amy goes through Aunt March’s treasure trove of jewelry and chances upon a rosary, which she mistakes for a fine piece of jewelry. Indeed, it is the piece she most desires: she looks “with great admiration at a string of gold and ebony beads, from which hung a heavy cross of the same” (193). Esther concedes that she “covets” it as well…
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Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 