Alternative Alcott

by Louisa May Alcott, Elaine Showalter (Editor, Introduction by)

The discovery in recent years of Louisa May Alcott's pseudonymous sensation stories has made readers and scholars increasingly aware of her accomplishments beyond her most famous novel, Little Women, one of the great international best-sellers of all time. What has been recovered throws new light on the children's books and asks us to question our assumptions about the supposedly staid and sentimental Alcott.

Alternative Alcott includes works never before reprinted, including "How I Went Out to Service," "My Contraband," and "Psyche's Art." It also contains Behind a Mask, her most important sensation story; the full and correct text of her last unfinished novel, Diana and Persis; "Transcendental Wild Oats"; Hospital Sketches; and Alcott's other important texts on nineteenth-century social history. This anthology brings together for the first time a variety of Louisa May Alcott's journalistic, satiric, feminist, and sensation texts. Elaine Showalter has provided an excellent introduction and notes to the collection.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Grad School, 19th Century, Literature

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such as A.M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.
Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times.
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death.

Reviews

[Mandy Szewczuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

A marvelous collection, pulled together and presented really well. However...I wasn't the hugest fan of Alcott to begin with and I'm not sure that this made me a bigger fan. It did definitely give me a broader understanding of her writing, particularly what she wanted to write, which mostly was about women supporting women in their chosen careers, often artistic, and autobiographical sketches. Some pieces veered toward the more gothic and exciting, and I did enjoy those sections. Alcott's belief in her own concept of racial equality was difficult to read at times, as she mixed abolitionist language with clear racial stereotypes and embarrassing phonetic dialogue. Overall, an interesting supplement to the classic writings of one of America's most famous authors, but these pieces are not especially strong in their own right.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable collection, especially “Hospital Sketches” and “Behind a Mask.” In “Hospital Sketches” Alcott sustains an intermittent rhythm of military metaphor which underscores the important contributions of the nurses of Civil War hospitals. Although sometimes a bit preachy, these stories, excerpts and novels for adults were more modern than I expected with their visions of the “New Woman.” “Behind the Mask” offered a surprising, satisfying ending to a story which could have become a typical Victorian moral vehicle.

[Dorrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stole this book from my dorm's common room. As a devotee of Louisa May Alcott, I'd read various extra writings of hers before, but this is a really good compendium of everything from her thrillers to her descriptions of her wartime experiences.

[Jim O'Loughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the only Alcott you know is Little Women, this complicates the picture. The pulp novella Behind a Mask is worth the price of admission alone.

[Tess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains a great sampling of LMA's lesser-known works; my personal favorite was the novella "Behind the Mask" which has a delightfully Gothic flair.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

At one point in my life I read every Alcott work I could get my hands on. I always secretly knew that there had to be more dramatic fare in her repertoire and "The Mask" did not disappoint. After all, Louisa told us that she had written such dramas when she has Jo writing them as newspaper serials in "Little Women". It's a shame that Victorian society far preferred her family-friendly works and she didn't have opportunity to stretch her writing muscles more. I enjoyed the humorous insights into her personal life in "Transcendental Wild Oats" and "How I Went Out to Service". I think "Hospital Sketches" must have been read by the writers of PBS's "Mercy Street" series because there are many similarities. Hurly Burly House is certainly represented on that show with the nurses running up and down the stairs to their rooms in the attic. The language is often quintessential Alcott; her recognizable voice comes through in most of these works, lofty in thought, a little preachy by today's standards, self-deprecating humor. To that extent I am certain that I have read some of these before, but maybe it is just the recurrent themes that makes it seem so. Despite the nineteenth century prejudices often exhibited, especially regarding race and ethnicity, her thoughts on women's rights are quite progressive. Regarding the choice women had to make then between career and family she wrote "I believe a woman can and ought to have both if she has the power and courage to win them. A man expects them, achieves them, why is not a woman's life to be as full and free as his?" A sentiment sadly still relevant as we see the pandemic damaging women's careers much more than men's. I wonder what Louisa would write about that?

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Alcott. "Hospital Sketches" is as funny as Twain (and also extremely emotionally affecting when she describes the death of a soldier she is close to).

I do not care for Showalter's intro very much. I mean, I do think biographical readings of authors are valuable, and Lord knows Alcott draws heavily from her own life for plot and character details. Much of her writing also reads like an apologia for her choices (not marrying, devoting herself to work, supporting her family, etc). But Showalter takes it waaaaaaay too far. Every time one of her characters holds a cigar, it does not mean Alcott was pining for penis. Sheesh.

[Shelbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took an Alcott class in college and we read selections from this collection, but I never finished reading them all. Most of these short stories were published under pseudonyms and have a very different tone than Little Women, her most famous work. Overall, there were some I loved and some I struggled to read. My favorite was honestly the bonus story about Jo, but I do love Little Women so much. Other notables include Hospital Sketches and Work.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louisa may Alcott was multi-faceted

[Elise Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this the first time in 2005(ish) for a class on Alcott and Twain. It made a huge impression on me then, but I'm even more impressed now that I'm so much older. Alcott was and is a force.

Behind a Mask was the story that stuck with me all these years, particularly the scene when Jean removes her false hair and teeth, but now I find it difficult to pick a "favorite." They are all so interesting and layered. Behind a Mask reminded me a bit of Austen's Lady Susan, one of her "juvenile" works. Whereas Austen abandons her audacious and immodest leading ladies for more subtle and controlled characters later in life, Alcott's Jean Muir seems to embody so many of the contradictions and limitations of femininity she consistently conveyed in more nuanced ways in other pieces.

Alcott's ethos in the autobiographical pieces is perfectly balanced and engaging - a balance of gravitas and levity, a balance of Protestant work-ethic and dreamy Romanticism, a deep interest in the loftiest transcendental ideals and the commonest work mules.

Elaine Showalter's introduction is helpful and insightful. I'm glad I re-read it.

[Mollie *scoutrmom* · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the introduction and Hospital Sketches, which were very well written. I could see the rebellious feminist tendencies, but decided not to read further into the anthology because the work was so rooted in its times as to offend my sensibilities, especially when she is writing about black workers.

That's life.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a much better perspective on Louisa May Alcott, of "Little Women" fame. Very enjoyable: she was a skilled writer and an very interesting woman.

Don't try reading this if you are: a) extremely judgemental, b) unable to cope with old-fashioned slang or styles of speech, c) unable to accept contradictory viewpoints :-)

[Bea Alden · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a lot more to Louisa May than Little Women! Not that I have anything against Little Women - loved it, of course, for many years. But in the stories in Alternative Alcott, we see the Jo of Little Women - her imagination going in all directions.

[Kaushalya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't realise she had written so much about sisterhood and 'friends' living together ;-)I particularly liked Transcendental Wild Oats.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprising and not nearly as salacious as I was hoping!! :)

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than Little Women. Just sayin...

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these largely feminist pieces from Louisa May Alcott better than Little Women.