The hit Broadway show of 1912; the lost film of 1919; Katharine
Hepburn, as Jo, sliding down a banister in George Cukor's 1933
movie; Mark English's shimmering 1967 illustrations; Jo--this time
played by Sutton Foster--belting "I'll be / astonishing" in the
2004 Broadway musical flop: these are only some of the markers of
the afterlife of "Little Women."
Then there's the nineteenth-century child who wrote, "If you do
not... make Laurie marry Beth, I will never read another of your
books as long as I live." Not to mention Miss Manners, a "Little
Women" devotee, who announced that the book taught her an important
life lesson: "Although it's very nice to have two clean gloves,
it's even more important to have a little ink on your fingers." In
"The Afterlife of "Little Women,"" Beverly Lyon Clark, a leading
authority on children's literature, explores these and other
after-tremors, both popular and academic, as she maps the reception
of Louisa May Alcott's timeless novel, first published in 1868.
Clark divides her discussion into four historical periods. The
first covers the novel's publication and massive popularity in the
late nineteenth century. In the second era--the first three decades
of the twentieth century--the novel becomes a nostalgic icon of the
domesticity of a previous century, while losing status among the
literary and scholarly elite. In its mid-century afterlife
(1930-1960), "Little Women" reaches a low in terms of its critical
reputation but remains a well-known piece of Americana within
popular culture. The book concludes with a long chapter on Little
"Women"'s afterlife from the 1960s to the present--a period in
which the reading of the book seems to decline, while scholarly
attention expands dramatically and popular echoes continue to
proliferate.
Drawing on letters and library records as well as reviews,
plays, operas, film and television adaptations, spinoff novels,
translations, Alcott biographies, and illustrations, Clark
demonstrates how the novel resonates with both conservative family
values and progressive feminist ones. She grounds her story in
criticism of children's literature, book history, cultural studies,
feminist criticism, and adaptation studies. Written in an
accessible narrative style, "The Afterlife of "Little Women""
speaks to scholars, librarians, and devoted Alcott fans.
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