Louisa May Alcott: The Contemporary Reviews (American Critical Archives)

421 Pages·2004·1.98 MB·English

by  Beverly Lyon Clark

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LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
The Contemporary Reviews
The American Critical Archives is a series of reference books that provides
representativeselectionsofcontemporaryreviewsofthemainworksofmajor
American authors. Specifically, each volume contains both full reviews and
excerpts from reviews that appeared in newspapers and weekly and monthly
periodicals, generally within a few months of the publication of the work
concerned.Thereisanintroductoryhistoricaloverviewbyavolumeeditor,as
wellaschecklistsofadditionalreviewslocatedbutnotquoted.
This collection of nineteenth-century reviews provides a wealth of new in-
formation for scholars interested in Alcott (increasing the number of indexed
reviews almost tenfold) and also insight into the ways in which reading
audienceswereconstructedinthenineteenth-centuryUnitedStates.Thereviews
provideawindowontonineteenth-centuryattitudestowardpopularfictionand
towardwomenwriters.Theauthorofnovelsandofsensationaltales,oftravel
writingandofatemperancetract,Alcottwasbothhighlypopularandhighly
respected.Herworkswerereviewednotjustinmagazinesforchildren,butalso
inthemostprestigiousliteraryjournalsoftheday.

Louisa May Alcott
The Contemporary Reviews
Edited by
Beverly Lyon Clark
WheatonCollege
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521827805
© Cambridge University Press 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format
isbn-13 978-0-511-18693-6 eBook (EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-18693-2
eBook (EBL)
isbn-13 978-0-521-82780-5 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-82780-9 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
ForRoger,Adam,andWendy

Contents
Serieseditor’spreface pageix
Acknowledgments x
Introduction xi
FlowerFables(1855;reprinted,withadditions,asTheFrostKing,
vol.2ofLulu’sLibrary,1887) 1
HospitalSketches(1863;reprintedinHospitalSketchesandCamp
andFiresideStories,1869) 7
OnPicketDuty,andOtherTales(1864) 21
Moods(1865;revisededition,1882) 25
MorningGlories,andOtherStories(1868,1871) 47
Kitty’sClass-Day;AuntKipp;Psyche’sArt(1868;reprinted
togetherinLouisaMayAlcott’sProverbStories,1868) 53
LittleWomen;or,Meg,Jo,BethandAmy(Part1,1868;Part2,
1869) 59
AnOld-FashionedGirl(1870) 93
LittleMen:LifeatPlumfieldwithJo’sBoys(1871) 131
MyBoys,vol.1ofAuntJo’sScrap-Bag(London,1871;1872) 161
Shawl-Straps,vol.2ofAuntJo’sScrap-Bag(1872) 169
Work:AStoryofExperience(1873) 181
CupidandChow-Chow,vol.3ofAuntJo’sScrap-Bag(1874) 227
EightCousins;or,TheAunt-Hill(1875) 233
SilverPitchers;andIndependence,ACentennialLoveStory(1876) 263
RoseinBloom;ASequelto“EightCousins”(1876) 275
AModernMephistopheles(1877;reprintedwithAWhisperinthe
Dark,1889) 283
MyGirls,vol.4ofAuntJo’sScrap-Bag(1878) 307
UndertheLilacs(1878) 313
Jimmy’sCruiseinthePinafore,vol.5ofAuntJo’sScrap-Bag(1879) 325
JackandJill:AVillageStory(1880) 331
AnOld-FashionedThanksgiving,vol.6ofAuntJo’sScrap-Bag
(1882) 341
Spinning-WheelStories(1884) 347
vii
AChristmasDream,vol.1ofLulu’sLibrary(1886) 353
Jo’sBoys,andHowTheyTurnedOut:ASequelto“LittleMen”
(1886) 357
AGarlandforGirls(1888) 371
Recollections,vol.3ofLulu’sLibrary(1889) 379
ComicTragedies,Writtenby“Jo”and“Meg”andActedbythe
“LittleWomen”(1893) 383
Index 391
viii