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 acknowledge that Work: A Story of Experience is an important feminist work (see previous post). It was groundbreaking in that respect and makes it a relevant book for today in understanding the condition of single working women in the nineteen century. Work would be an especially valuable read for women of the Millennial generation who …
Continue reading "Wrapping up Work A Story of Experience: The Spiritual Subplot"
“…Work is an expression of Alcott’s feminist principles and a major effort toward synthesizing in popular, readable form the broad set of beliefs encompassing family, education, suffrage, labor and the moral reform of social life that defined feminist ideology in the nineteenth century.” (pg. 191 from Critical Essays on Louisa May Alcott edited by Madeleine …
Continue reading "A feminist manifesto: wrapping up Work A Story of Experience (part two)"
Several months ago I started reading Work: A Story of Experience, one of Louisa’s few adult novels. The story, like Little Women, is a thinly disguised, romanticized yet gritty autobiography coupled with wishes Louisa might have had regarding the course of her life. First, my impressions In this first of three planned posts on this …
Continue reading "A tale of two books: wrapping up Work A Story of Experience (part one)"
Chapter 9 of Work, A Story of Experience brings us face to face with another character based upon a real life person. The character is Rev. Thomas Power and the actual person is the Rev. Theodore Parker. The power of life's example In Work, Christie, very taken with Cynthy Wilkins’ optimistic view of life, fulfills …
For someone who abhorred the idea of marriage for herself, Louisa May Alcott again and again paints a multi-layered, satisfying and mature picture of the institution. Raising an interesting question I wrote about this before, describing the first year of marriage between Meg and John Brooke in Little Women. I see it now in Work: …
We return to a discussion of Work: A Story of Experience where chapter 7, "Through the Mist" marks a turning point in Christie's life. It is also a powerful and penetrating look inside the author who herself experienced a similar turning point. After numerous attempts to find meaningful work that she could sustain, and after …
Continue reading "Returning to “Work:” In and out of the mist – Louisa’s art reflects life"
A ticking time bomb lay inside of Louisa May Alcott and she knew it. It went off with her father, her Uncle Junius, and eventually, herself. Her journals alluded to it. Her creativity was fueled by it. And chapter 5 of Work: A Story of Experience gives us a detailed look inside. Companion Having left the …
You’ve come of age and it’s time to strike out on your own. How do you feel? Excited? Fearful? Full of anticipation? Will it be a grand adventure or a dismal failure? In her mid-twenties, Louisa May Alcott was ready to strike out on her own, fueled by her obsessive desire to be a financial …
Continue reading "Work: “Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor” – what could women do?"
What was it like to be a nineteenth century woman who bucked the system? Suppose she didn’t want to marry right away but instead, preferred to seek independence and meaning through work? What if her world didn’t revolve around a man, but herself? How would she fare? Does the answer lie in Jo March? At …
Continue reading "Work: Louisa May Alcott writes about bucking the system"
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 