Louisa May Alcott Documentary Shows She Was The JK Rowling Of Her Time

Los Angeles Times:

For those who know Louisa May Alcott only as the author of some of the most enduring classics of children's literature, "Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women' " will be a revelation. For those already familiar with Alcott's Transcendentalist-boho childhood, her sensational tales of love and horror under the pen name A.M. Barnard and her refusal to diminish her personal and economic freedom by marrying, the dramatically reenacted documentary gives life and texture to a woman of extraordinary talent and determination who became as great a celebrity in her day as J.K. Rowling is in ours.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[lwaxanatroi]

12:55 PM on 12/28/2009

The writer of the article wonders what Alcott's books would have been like if she hadn't written mainly for children (she herself called it "moral pap" in a candid moment). Actually, she wrote two adult novels: MOODS and WORK. In MOODS, her heroine falls in love with a young man not unlike her family's friend Henry David Thoreau; in WORK, a young woman leaves the farm and goes out to find jobs. She does everything from nursing to theatrical acting to sewing in a mill. It's a terrific story and it gives an overview of the occupations women were able to enter in Alcott's day. I am looking forward to this documentary as Alcott is one of my heroes. She supported her family with her pen, and when her pen wasn't enough, she took out her needle. She is a true American heroine.