Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann
NAME: Louisa
May Alcott
BIRTHDATE:
November 29, 1832
BIRTH
PLACE: Germantown (now a part of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania. Her
family moved in 1834 to Boston, Massachusetts. and in 1840 Concord,
Massachusetts.
DATE
OF DEATH: March 6, 1888- the date of her own father's funeral,
to which she was unaware
PLACE
OF DEATH: Boston, Massachusetts
FAMILY
BACKGROUND: Louisa was one of four daughters. Although her father's
association with the Transcendentalists allowed Louisa to grow up in
an intellectual and non-conventional environment, her own views challenged
the transcendental philosophies. Her education served to foster
her love and dedication to writing, acting, education and women's rights.
EDUCATION:
Most of Louisa May Alcott's early education was received by her father,
Bronson Alcott. For a short time she attended a small school
in Still River Village and a small school held in her family's barn. She
was instructed throughout her childhood by her father's fellow
Transcendentalists: writers and family friends, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller.
DESCRIPTION
OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Louisa May Alcott is widely known as
the writer of Little Women, a self reflective children's book
published in 1868. The success of this book led to other books
based on Alcott's life such as Little Men and Jo's Boys. Louisa's
success as a writer allowed her to support her sisters and parents.
Prompted by her wish to promote womens' roles and her hatred for slavery, as a young adult during the Civil War, she volunteered to be a nurse in an army hospital in Washington, D.C.. During this time, Alcott contracted typhoid fever. This experience provided the theme for her work, Hospital Sketches.
Although she is most popular for her children's literature, Alcott explored the themes of self expression and women's rights through her adult fiction works Behind a Mask; or, A Woman's Power, and Work: A Story of Experience, and A Modern Mephistopheles.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Alcott, Louisa May. Alternative Alcott. Edited and with an introduction by Elaine Showalter. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987.
- Alcott, Louisa May. Behind a Mask: the Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. Edited and with an introduction by Madeleine Stern. New York: Morrow, 1975.
- Alcott, Louisa May. Moods. Edited and with an introduction by Sarah Elbert. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
- Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: a Family Biography. New York: Crown Publishers, 1980.
- Myerson, Joel and Daniel Shealy. The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Boston: Little Brown, 1987.
- Stern, Madeleine Bettina. Louisa May Alcott. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.
WEB
SITES
- Orchard House - Home of the Alcotts
- Alcott Web
- Louisa May Alcott documentary film biography site
- Louisa May Alcott biography provided by Camden County Free Library
QUOTE
You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
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