Madeleine B. Stern: Louisa May Alcott: A Biographie

Madeleine B. Stern

Louisa May Alcott: A Biographie

Christina says:

Louisa May Alcott’s book LITTLE WOMEN, published 1868, is a classic. Alcott was born in 1832 in Pennsylvania and grew up in Boston and Concord/Massachusetts. Her father Amos Bronson Alcott was a philosopher whose theories about education only late in his life acquired a larger following, but who was valued highly by his more famous contemporaries Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The Alcott family was poor and depended mostly on the mother’s small income. Louisa contributed to the family income by publishing sensational pot-boilers at an early age. She also wrote stories for children and novels, but only after LITTLE WOMEN was published and became an instant success the financial straits came to an end.

Alcott was a very productive writer. Her most famous works to this day apart from LITTLE WOMEN are LITTLE MEN and JO’S BOYS, sequels to the popular story of the March family. Adding to her fame are the stories published anonymously or under pseudonym that are now attributed to her. Alcott took an active role in the reform movements of her time and promoted women’s suffrage and temperance which influenced her writing. Just when her books brought her fame and prosperity her health failed her and she died in 1888.

The fact that events and people from Louisa May Alcott’s own life found their way into her stories made me pick up her biography. Madeleine B. Stern’s book is praised as the "classic Alcott biography", and it does contain a wealth of information about the author’s life. However, the way the information was presented was rather confusing. The narrative reminded of a novel without dialogue. The appendix held a bibliography of Alcott’s works, an index of persons and titles and "Notes on Sources", giving the origin of quotes used throughout the book that were not marked by footnotes. I admit I felt a little lost while reading. Stern always tells her story from Alcott’s point of view, which especially at the beginning of the story is not very helpful when she presents the musings of a four-year-old child. You need more than just basic knowledge of the events of the period and the philosophical currents. A more "grown up" perspective would have helped to put the events in a context. Stern maintains her anecdotal narrative, throwing names and events at the reader whose meaning doesn’t always become clear right away, in some cases never. For example Stern mentions that Alcott’s HOSPITAL SKETCHES based on her experience as a nurse in a civil war hospital were praised by the American consul in Venice, but doesn’t clarify that said consul was writer William Dean Howells, the pioneer of American Realism.

Stern was most effective in showing how Alcott used her personal experience in her writing. The protrait of the Alcott family and their coherence as they battled the blows fortune dealt them is another strength of the book. Towards the end when Alcott’s health begins to disintegrate there are amusing depictions of the various cures she tried, but by telling everything strictly from Alcott’s perspective Stern once more fails to give sufficient information and to put what she tells in an understandable context.

An interesting book and a pleasant read, unfortunately you need a vast knowledge or a good encyclopedia to really enjoy it.