Description
Book SynopsisWritten in an accessible narrative style, The Afterlife of Little Women speaks to scholars, librarians, and devoted Alcott fans.
Trade ReviewEven as new Alcott-oriented scholarship, adaptations, and other artifacts appear, The Afterlife of 'Little Women' will continue to be essential to Alcott studies and a model for reception scholars. Reception The research in this book is stunning both in its breadth and depth... This is a book that not only does justice to its subject through a detailed presentation of evidence connected by astute critical judgments, but can also serve as a model for future studies. We are in Clark's debt for this immensely detailed, informative, and--yes--entertaining work. The Lion and the Unicorn [ The Afterlife of Little Women] is fascinating, cover-to-cover, for the many readers of Little Women still out there, whether scholar or generally interested fan, for Clark's prose is clear and lively; her ability to discuss so many diverse materials so cogently is admirable... As the sesquicentennial of Alcott's most famous work approaches (2018), scholars and general readers can only hope that Beverly Lyon Clark will be among those assessing this classic in its 150th year. Studies in the Novel From the child who saves her copy of Little Women as she flees from a Chicago fire, to a schoolgirl who warns Alcott that if she didn't 'make Laurie marry Beth' she would 'never read another of your books as long as I live'... the glimpses we get of child readers in the nineteenth century are compelling. Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Becoming Everyone's Aunt, 1868–1900
2. Waxing Nostalgic, 1900–1930
3. Outwitting Poverty and War, 1930–1960
4. Celebrating Sisterhood and Passion since 1960
Notes
Index
