Louisa+May+Alcott

**LOUISA MAY ALCOTT** - Born: November 29, 1832 - Died: March 6, 1888 - best known for her novel __Little Women__; the novel was loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters. - father was a transcendentalism and an educator; shared the same birthday - moved to Massachusetts - father established an experimental school and joined the Transcendental Club with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
 * ABOUT HER**

- Alcott's early education included lessons from the naturalist Henry David Thoreau; received the majority of schooling from father; received some instruction from writers and educators such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller
 * EDUCATION**

- As an adult, Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist. 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.
 * ADULT**

- Poverty made it necessary for Alcott to go to work at an early age as an occasional teacher, seamstress, governess, domestic helper and writer. Her first book was "Flower Fables" (1849), a selection of tales originally written for Ellen Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1860, Alcott began writing for the "Atlantic Monthly". When the American Civil War broke out, she served as a nurse in the Union Hospital at Georgetown, D.C. for six weeks in 1862-1863. Her letters home - revised and published in the "Commonwealth" and collected as "Hospital Sketches" (1863) - garnered her first critical recognition for her observations and humor. Her novel "Moods" (1864), based on her own experience, was also promising.

- She also wrote passionate, fiery novels and sensational stories under the nom de plume **A.M. Barnard**. Among these are "A Long Fatal Love Chase" and "Pauline's Passion and Punishment".

- Alcott produced wholesome stories for children also, and after their positive reception, she did not generally return to creating works for adults.

- Alcott's literary success arrived with the publication by the Roberts Brothers of the first part of "Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy" (1868) a semi-autobiography account of her childhood with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Part two, or "Part Second," also known as "Good Wives" (1869) followed the March sisters into adulthood and their respective marriages.

- Later in life, Alcott became an advocate for women's suffrage and was the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Massachusetts, in a school board election.

- Alcott, along with Elizabeth Stoddard, Rebecca Harding Davis, Anne Moncure Crane, and others, were part of a group of female authors during the Gilded Age who addressed women’s issues in a modern and candid manner.

- suffered chronic health problems in her later years

- During her American Civil War service, Alcott contracted typhoid fever and was treated with calomel, a compound containing mercury

- The Inheritance (1849, unpublished until 1997) - Flower Fables (1849) - Hospital Sketches (1863) - The Rose Family: A Fairy Tale (1864) - Moods (1865, revised 1882) - Morning-Glories and Other Stories (1867) - The Mysterious Key and What It Opened (1867) - Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868) - Three Proverb Stories (includes "Kitty's Class Day", "Aunt Kipp" and "Psyche's Art")(1868) - A Strange Island (1868) - Part Second of Little Women, also known as "Good Wives" (1869) - Perilous Play (1869) - An Old Fashioned Girl (1870) - Will's Wonder Book (1870) - Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag (1872-1882) - Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871) - "Transcendental Wild Oats" (1873) - Work: A Story of Experience (1873) - Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill (1875) - Beginning Again, Being a Continuation of Work (1875) - Silver Pitchers, and Independence: A Centennial Love Story (1876) - Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to Eight Cousins (1876) - Under the Lilacs (1878) - Jack and Jill: A Village Story (1880) - The Candy Country (1885) - Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men" (1886) - Lulu's Library (1886-1889) - A Garland for Girls (1888)
 * SELECTED WORKS**

- "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." - Louisa May Alcott - " I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship." - Louisa May Alcott
 * QUOTES**: