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.
Chapter 14 in Eight Cousins, "A Happy Birthday" lays out Uncle Alec's strategy for Rose's upbringing: she is to run, jump, climb trees and play with her cousins, and she is to ride horses, all in an attempt to strengthen her physical and emotional health. Mrs. Jessie compares the Rose she sees now with the …
Continue reading "Eight Cousins: “Tomboys make strong women”"
Because of all the upcoming events in Concord with regards to the centennial of Orchard House as a museum (many of the directly related to Little Women), I've started re-reading Louisa's classic. Jillian from A Room of One's Own is also re-reading (I actually got the idea from her). I invite you all to join …
Continue reading "Join in the group read/re-read of Little Women"
Friends and biographers of Anna Alcott Pratt are so busy singing her praises as a loving and selfless daughter, wife and mother that is was hard to find more substantive information. That is, until I came across Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott. Co-authors Jessie Bonstelle and Marian deForest offered journal entries from …
Greetings to the Poet's Corner Virtual Book Club: Eight Cousins Eight Cousins (or The Aunt-Hill) introduces us to a new kind of heroine from Louisa May Alcott. Rose, blond and blue-eyed, comes from wealth. In past stories, it’s been the wealthy girls who have proven to be the antagonists (Sallie Moffat from Little Women, Fanny …
Here's a great essay by Klara Stephanie Szlezák where she concludes that staging is critical to the success of an historical homestead. Kudos to Orchard House for the brilliance of its staging which so beautifully captures not just the era Louisa May Alcott lived in, but her home, her family and her classic, Little Women. …
Continue reading "What makes Orchard House such a compelling historical site?"
Moods was Louisa May Alcott's first serious novel and her"baby," most likely the book that Jo referred to in Chapter 27 of Little Women, "Literary Lessons." Louisa describes Jo's writing process which likely mirrors her own. "Falling into a vortex," as she calls it, it's like Louisa/Jo steps into another dimension, oblivious to the outside …
Here's an article of interest regarding the resurrection of Winona Ryder's career after her arrest and conviction. Before I give my opinion, how about I get yours? What did you think of this writer's take on Little Women and how the movie interpreted it?
I had been reading Little Women in bits and pieces over the summer but now I am fully immersing myself in it. Although I read some of it for school many years ago, I never finished it nor appreciated it. I actually decided to start it again when I began reading Kelly O'Connor McNees' book, …
I came across this very sweet letter from Anna Alcott Pratt to some young admirers of Louisa after she had written Little Women. It's very revealing as to how she felt about her sisters, and herself. To me she seems hard on herself but most people don't think they are as good as their family …
Continue reading "A sweet letter to young fans of Little Women from “Meg”"
I loved this section that I read in Carolyn Ticknor's May Alcott A Memoir this morning. It details how May, while visiting the small village of Grez in France ( the latest mecca for artists), ran into a 14 year old fan of Little Women. Having read before how Louisa May Alcott was the first …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 