The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott

The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott - Paperback

$59.87
Sale price  $59.87 Regular price 
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The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott

The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott - Paperback

$59.87
Sale price  $59.87 Regular price 

Book Overview

The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott contains a broad cross-section of letters from the correspondence of the creator of Little Women and provides a compelling autobiography of this most autobiographical of writers. Spanning a period of forty-five years, this collection provides vivid accounts of Alcott's life and development as a writer.

Episodes in Alcott's life are candidly reflected: her youth, when the prototype of Jo March was already being shaped; the 1868 publication of Little Women and the prosperity and renown the book brought its author; her never-ending struggles for her family; the final years spent caring for her niece and an invalid father. Alcott's letters also furnished a vent for the pressures she felt to write a sequel to Little Women and play matchmaker for the novel's heroine. Writing to a friend in early 1869, Alcott remarked that "Jo should have remained a literary spinster but so many enthusiastic young ladies wrote to me clamorously demanding that she should marry Laurie, or somebody, that I didnt dare to refuse & out of perversity went & made a funny match for her. I expect vials of wrath to be poured out upon my head, but rather enjoy the prospect."

The correspondence sheds light on Alcott's relationship with her publishers, such friends as Emerson and Thoreau, and members of her family. Of particular note are her observations--many of them firsthand--on such major issues of the day as abolition, the Civil War, and the women's rights movement.
ISBN9780820317403
Author Louisa May Alcott
PublisherUniversity of Georgia Press
GenreBiography and Literature
FormatPaperback
PublishedAugust 1995
LanguageENG- English
Pages410
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

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About Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania, in 1832, the second of four daughters. After a period of serving as an army nurse, she published Hospital Sketches in 1863, followed by Gothic Romances and lurid thrillers. In 1868-9, she published Little Women, which proved so popular that it was followed by two sequels and several other novels. She died in 1888. Elaine Showalter is the author of the groundbreaking A Literature of Their Own and editor of Little Women for Penguin Classics.

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