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Nancy
Imelda Schafer BIOGRAPHY:
Bronson Alcott founded several schools, but all of them failed, forcing Abigail and her daughters to undertake the financial support of the family. Later, Alcott often remarked that her entire career was inspired by her desire to compensate for her family's early discomfort. Alcott taught school, took in sewing, and worked briefly as a domestic servant. At age sixteen she began writing, convinced that she could eventually earn enough money to alleviate the family's poverty. In 1851, her first poem was published in Peterson's Magazine under the pseudonym Flora Fairfield, bringing Alcott little money but a great deal of confidence. It was during the ensuing years that Alcott published, as A. M. Barnard, a number of sensational serial stories, which were both popular and lucrative.
In 1862, Alcott went to Washington, D.C. to serve as a nurse to soldiers wounded in the American Civil War. It was a shortlived experience, however, for she contracted typhoid within a month, from which she nearly died. Her good health, undermined by the long illness and by mercury poisoning from her medication, was never fully recovered. Alcott later recounted her experiences as a nurse in her popular Hospital Sketches (1863) which was originally published in the periodical Commonwealth. Her first novel, Moods (1864), pronounced immoral by critics, sold well nonetheless, and its success encouraged Alcott to continue writing. In 1865, Alcott traveled through Europe as a companion to a wealthy invalid and wrote for periodicals. While abroad, she was offered the editorship of Merry's Museum, an American journal featuring juvenile literature. She accepted the position and became the journal's chief contributor. The turning point of Alcott's career came with the publication of Little Women; or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868-69). An autobiographical account of nineteenth-century family life, the novel traces the development of Alcott, depicted as Jo March, and her three sisters. The work was an immediate success and established Alcott as a major author. She published four sequels to Little Women entitled Good Wives (volume two of Little Women), Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871), Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag (1872-82), and Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out (1886). Alcott was regarded as a celebrity and was easily able to support her family with her earnings. Alcott's literary career can be divided into three periods. The first phase, spanning the 1840s to the late 1860s, is characterized by the lurid, sensational short stories that were published anonymously and pseudonymously in various New England periodicals. Critics generally agree that the characters in these early efforts are well drawn and colorful and that the plots are intricate and tightly woven. Most of these tales feature a mysterious, vengeful woman bent on manipulation and destruction. Alcott also included ghosts, opium eaters, and mercenaries in these serials. These melodramatic stories were extremely popular and provided Alcott with a steady income as she worked on lengthier pieces.
From 1875 onward, as her health
deteriorated, Alcott primarily produced popular juvenile literature.
Most of her later works, particularly Work: A
Story of Experience (1873) and Rose
in Bloom (1876), depict
Henry James called Alcott the "novelist of children ... the Thackeray, the Trollope, of the nursery and the schoolroom ...," and other contemporaries remarked that her spirited, wholesome stories were destined to become American classics. The twentieth century, however, witnessed a change in the critical assessment of Alcott's works. Although still popular with an adolescent audience, Alcott's Little Women has been criticized for its blatant moralizing. In 1920, Katharine Fullerton Gerould carried the criticism further, calling the March girls "underbred" and "unworldly." Gerould found the novel dated and sentimental and attacked the work for its "inexcusable amount of love-making." She insisted that Alcott wrote as one who had never loved. Both Little Women and Little Men have been faulted by some early-twentieth-century scholars for poor structure and organization. Specifically, critics charged that the works resemble collections of single sketches and lack the unity of integrated novels. More recent critics, however, value this method of construction and maintain that it mirrors the adolescent point of view. The last two decades have seen a renewed interest in Alcott's melodramatic early work. The noted Alcott critic Madeleine Stern has reprinted two collections of these colorful stories and introduced them to a new audience. Alcott remains an enduring figure in American literature. Although some regard her portrayals of nineteenth-century domestic life as dated, she is remembered for her sympathetic and realistic depictions of the maturing adolescent. Her most popular work, Little Women, was instrumental in changing the focus of juvenile literature to include sensitive, not merely formulaic, portrayals of young adults.
Born November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States; died March 6, 1888, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States; buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA; daughter of Amos Bronson (an educator and philosopher) and Abigail (May) Alcott.
Tutored by her father until the age of sixteen; later studied under Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Theodore Parker.
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Numerous stories published in books, both individually and in collections. Author of several unproduced melodramas, including The Bandit's Bride and The Moorish Maiden's Vow. Also contributor of "sensational" fiction, appearing in periodicals and dime novels anonymously or under pseudonyms. Contributor to numerous periodicals. Alcott's works have been translated into numerous foreign languages. Alcott family papers are collected at Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Several film adaptations have been made of Alcott's writings, including Little Women, Famous Players, Lasky Corp., 1919; Little Women, RKO, 1933; Little Women, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1949; Little Women, Columbia Pictures, 1994; Little Men, Mascott, 1934; Little Men, RKO, 1940; An Old-Fashioned Girl, Pathe Industries, 1949, and Little Women, 1994. Several recordings of Alcott's work have also been made. CREDIT SOURCE:
All information contained herein was obtained at the Camden County Free
Library, Voorhees NJ, USA
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lcott,
the second of four daughters, was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and
raised in Boston and Concord, Massachusetts. Her father, Amos Bronson
Alcott, was a noted New England Transcendentalist philosopher and
educator who worked only sporadically throughout Louisa May's life. Her
mother, Abigail May Alcott, was descended from the witch-burning Judge
Samuel Sewall and the noted abolitionist Colonel Joseph May. Although
severely impoverished, Alcott's childhood was apparently happy. Taught
by her father, Alcott was deeply influenced by his transcendentalist
thought and experimental educational philosophies. Ralph Waldo Emerson's
personal library of classics and philosophy was available for use to the
young Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau taught her botany. Margaret
Fuller, James Russell Lowell, and Julia Ward were only a few of Alcott's
intellectually influential neighbors and friends. Women's rights and
educational reform--important social reform issues of nineteenth-century
America--were two of Alcott's pet causes that often appear as themes in
her novels.
attracted young and old readers alike and remains popular today.
Alcott's continuing popular appeal is generally attributed to her
believable characterizations and simple, charming writing style,
reflected in her adage: "Never use a long word when a short
one will do as well." The twentieth century has seen
increased attention given to Alcott's canon, with literary critics
noting in particular her prevalent feminist and psychosexual
themes. Alcott scholar Madeleine B. Stern noted that "today
... [Louisa May] is viewed as an experimenting, complex writer,
and her work has become fertile ground for the exploration both of
literary historians and psychohistorians."
1868,
reprinted as Proverb Stories, Reprint Services, 1989..
