Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott
Born November 29, 1832 (1832-11-29)
Germantown, Philadelphia, PA
Died March 6, 1888 (aged 55)
Boston, Massachusetts
Pen name A. Events 1777 - San Jose California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe Year 1832 ( MDCCCXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a Pseudonym adopted by an Author or their publishers to conceal their identity M. Barnard
Occupation Novelist
Nationality United States
Writing period Civil War
Subjects Young Adult stories
Notable work(s) Little Women
Influences
Official website

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte Baron Fouqué ( February 12, 1777 &ndash January 23, 1843) was a German Writer Events 1777 - San Jose California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe Year 1832 ( MDCCCXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story She is best known for the novel Little Women, published in 1868. Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 Year 1868 ( MDCCCLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters.

Contents

Childhood and Early works

Alcott was a daughter of noted Transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail May Alcott. Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29 1799 &ndash March 4 1888 was an American teacher and writer Abigail Alcott (née May (October 8 1800 &ndash November 25 1877 was the wife of Transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott and mother of four daughters including Louisa's father started the Temple School; her uncle, Samuel Joseph May, was a noted abolitionist. Samuel Joseph May ( September 12, 1797 &ndash July 1, 1871) a radical American reformer during the nineteenth century championed multiple reform Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies Though of New England parentage and residence, she was born in Germantown, which is currently part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History See also History of New England New England's earliest inhabitants were Algonquian -speaking Native Americans including the Germantown is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, about six miles northwest from the center of the city Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern She had three sisters: one elder (Anna Alcott Pratt) and two younger (Elizabeth Sewall Alcott and Abigail May Alcott Nieriker). The family moved to Boston in 1834 or 1835,[1] where her father established an experimental school and joined the Transcendental Club with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The Transcendental Club was the group of New England intellectuals of the early-to-mid-19th century which gave rise to Transcendentalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century

During her childhood and early adulthood, she shared her family's poverty and Transcendentalist ideals. In 1840, after several setbacks with the school, her family moved to a cottage on two acres along the Sudbury River in Concord, Massachusetts. The Sudbury River is located in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Alcott family moved to the Utopian Fruitlands community for a brief interval in 1843-1844 and then, after its collapse, to rented rooms and finally to a house in Concord purchased with her mother's inheritance and help from Emerson. Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the Fruitlands was a Utopian home established in Harvard Massachusetts by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane in the 1840s based on Transcendentalist Alcott's early education had included lessons from the naturalist Henry David Thoreau but had chiefly been in the hands of her father. She also received some instruction from writers and educators such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller, who were all family friends. Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (May 23 1810 – July 19 1850 was a Journalist, Critic and Women's rights activist associated with the American She later described these early years in a newspaper sketch entitled "Transcendental Wild Oats," afterwards reprinted in the volume Silver Pitchers (1876), which relates the experiences of her family during their experiment in "plain living and high thinking" at Fruitlands.

As she grew older, she became both an abolitionist and a feminist. Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate In 1847, the family housed a fugitive slave for one week. In 1848 Alcott read and admired the "Declaration of Sentiments" published by the Seneca Falls Convention on women's rights. The Seneca Falls Convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19 to July 20, 1848, was the first Women's rights

Due to the family's poverty, she began work at an early age as an occasional teacher, seamstress, governess, domestic helper, and writer — her first book was Flower Fables (1854), tales originally written for Ellen Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or Sewing or stitching is the fastening of Cloth, Leather, Furs Bark, or other flexible materials using needle and A governess is a female employee of a family who teaches children within their home A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century In 1860, Alcott began writing for the Atlantic Monthly. The Atlantic (formerly known as The Atlantic Monthly) is an American Magazine founded in Boston in 1857 She was nurse in the Union Hospital at Georgetown, D.C., for six weeks in 1862-1863. Georgetown is a Neighborhood located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington D Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday Her letters home, revised and published in the Commonwealth and collected as Hospital Sketches (1863, republished with additions in 1869), garnered her first critical recognition for her observations and humor. Her novel Moods (1864), based on her own experience, was also promising.

A lesser-known part of her work are the passionate, fiery novels and stories she wrote, usually under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard. These works, such as A Long Fatal Love Chase and Pauline's Passion and Punishment, were known in the Victorian Era as "potboilers" or "blood-and-thunder tales. A Long Fatal Love Chase is a suspense novel by Louisa May Alcott. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities " Her character Jo in "Little Women" publishes several such stories but ultimately rejects them after being told that they are "dangerous for little minds. " Their protagonists are willful and relentless in their pursuit of their own aims, which often include revenge on those who have humiliated or thwarted them. The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. These works achieved immediate commercial success and remain highly readable today.

Alcott also produced moralistic and wholesome stories for children, and, with the exceptions of the semi-autobiographical tale Work (1873), and the anonymous novelette A Modern Mephistopheles (1875), which attracted suspicion that it was written by Julian Hawthorne, she did not return to creating works for adults. Julian Hawthorne ( June 22, 1846 &ndash1934 was an American writer and journalist the son of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody

Literary success and later life

Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott's overwhelming success dated from the appearance of the first part of Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, (1868) a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood years with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 Part two, or Part Second, also known as Good Wives, (1869) followed the March sisters into adulthood and their respective marriages. Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 Little Men (1871) detailed Jo's life at the Plumfield School that she founded with her husband Professor Bhaer at the conclusion of Part Two of Little Women. Little Men or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1871. Jo's Boys (1886) completed the "March Family Saga. Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out A Sequel to "Little Men" is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1886 "

Most of her later volumes, An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag (6 vols. , 1871–1879), Eight Cousins and its sequel Rose in Bloom (1876), and others, followed in the line of Little Women, remaining popular with her large and loyal public. Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill was published in 1875 by American novelist Louisa May Alcott.

Although the Jo character in Little Women was based on Louisa May Alcott, she, unlike Jo, never married. Alcott explained her "spinsterhood" in an interview with Louise Chandler Moulton, ". Louise Chandler Moulton ( 1835 - August 10, 1908) American Poet, story-writer and Critic, daughter of Lucius L Chandler . . because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man. "[2]'

In 1879 her younger sister, May, died. Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Alcott took in May's daughter, Louisa May Nieriker ("Lulu"), who was two years old. The baby was named after her aunt, and was given the same nickname.

In her later life, Alcott became an advocate of women's suffrage and was the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Massachusetts in a school board election. Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States.

Louisa May Alcott's grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts
Louisa May Alcott's grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts

Alcott, along with Elizabeth Stoddard, Rebecca Harding Davis, Anne Moncure Crane, and others, were part of a group of female authors during the U. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is a Cemetery located on Bedford Street near the center of Concord Massachusetts. Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, Née Barstow ( May 6, 1823 – August 1, 1902) United States Poet Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (1831-1910 born Rebecca Blaine Harding was an American author and journalist S. Gilded Age to address women’s issues in a modern and candid manner. In American history, the Gilded Age refers to major growth in population in the United States and extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during Their works were, as one newspaper columnist of the period commented, "among the decided 'signs of the times'" (“Review 2 – No Title” from The Radical, May 1868, see References below).

Despite worsening health, Alcott wrote through the rest of her life, finally succumbing to the after-effects of mercury poisoning contracted during her American Civil War service: she had received calomel treatments for the effects of typhoid. Mercury poisoning (also known as mercurialism, hydrargyria, Hunter-Russell syndrome, or acrodynia when affecting children is a Disease Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South Mercury(I chloride is the Chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2 Typhoid fever, also known as enteric fever, bilious fever, Yellow Jack or commonly just typhoid, is an illness caused by the Bacterium She died in Boston on March 6, 1888 at age 55, two days after visiting her father on his deathbed. Her last words were "Is it not meningitis?"[3]

The story of her life and career was initially told in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals (Boston, 1889) and then in Madeleine B. Stern's seminal biography Louisa May Alcott (University of Oklahoma Press, 1950). A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account The University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma.

Selected works

As A. Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 Little Women or Meg Jo Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832&ndash1888 An Old-Fashioned Girl is a children's fiction novel by Louisa May Alcott. Little Men or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1871. Work A Story of Experience, first published in 1873, is a semi-autobiographical novel by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill was published in 1875 by American novelist Louisa May Alcott. Under the Lilacs is a children fiction novel by Louisa May Alcott. Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out A Sequel to "Little Men" is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1886 M. Barnard

First published anonymously

Published as

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Obituary: Louisa May Alcott, New York Times, March 7, 1888. Orchard House is a house and museum located in Concord Massachusetts. Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The obituary indicates that the family moved to Boston when Alcott was 2 years old, therefore in 1834-5. This is supported by the United States Census, 1850 which records that her younger sister, Elizabeth, was born in Massachusetts and was aged 15 (therefore born around 1835) at the time of the census.
  2. ^ Little Women Introduction, Penguin Classics, 1989. ISBN 0-14-039069-3
  3. ^ vu.union.edu - Famous Last Words

References

Further reading

External links

Sources

Other

Persondata
NAME Alcott, Louisa May
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barnard, A. M. (literary pseudonym)
SHORT DESCRIPTION writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1832 (1832-11-29)
PLACE OF BIRTH Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1888
PLACE OF DEATH Boston, Massachusetts
Events 1777 - San Jose California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe Year 1832 ( MDCCCXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Germantown is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, about six miles northwest from the center of the city Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic