Sunday, June 21, 2009
She would be both, actually. As seen in her autobiographical work, Little Women, Alcott wrote passionate stories for monthly publication in magazines.
"It comes as a shock to discover that Louisa May Alcott disdained the moral standards she developed in her children's books and was , in fact, a strikingly independent, strong willed, and ambitious woman who held her public and private lives in such separate spheres that the dichotomy was irreconcilable. In her private persona, Alcott allowed herself the freedom to write as she wished, and her anonymously and pseudonymously published works reveal a women whose interests and aspirations far overstepped the bounds of Victorian propriety"
-Octavia Davis, from the "Introduction" to A Modern Mephistopheles
One such book that she wrote was rejected by the likes of "The Weekly Volcano" and lurked around personal libraries until it was published in 1995.
A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
"I tell you, I cannot bear it! I shall do something desperate if this life is not changed soon. It gets worse and worse, and I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom."
So begins the adventures of our protagonist, Rosamond Vivian, the granddaughter of a wealthy mysterious man who lives on an unnamed island. This statement will continue to haunt the rest of the book, and is a giant foreshadow, but that's the kind of book this is.
Rosamond is soon swept away by an older man. She spends a year of blissful ignorance with him, when suddenly *lightening crash* he is revealed a cad! She, being of upstanding will and impeccable moral character, flees for the safety of her soul. A chase ensues through the rest of the story which keeps you on the edge of your seat. (Cliche phrase aside, it really is quite suspenseful.)
I give this book eight out of ten awesome-read points, and would recommend it to you even if you were not of the Little Women persuasion. You really would never be able to put the two books together. This book deals with sex, suicide, murder, stalking... All the dark elements that make people morbidly interested in things. Yet, the story has enough light elements in it that you don't leave manically depressed.
It's as Victorian thriller that you could probably give the label pulp fiction to, but the writing is good enough that you could compare bits of it to Jane Eyre. Give it a read.
"It comes as a shock to discover that Louisa May Alcott disdained the moral standards she developed in her children's books and was , in fact, a strikingly independent, strong willed, and ambitious woman who held her public and private lives in such separate spheres that the dichotomy was irreconcilable. In her private persona, Alcott allowed herself the freedom to write as she wished, and her anonymously and pseudonymously published works reveal a women whose interests and aspirations far overstepped the bounds of Victorian propriety"
-Octavia Davis, from the "Introduction" to A Modern Mephistopheles
One such book that she wrote was rejected by the likes of "The Weekly Volcano" and lurked around personal libraries until it was published in 1995.
A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
"I tell you, I cannot bear it! I shall do something desperate if this life is not changed soon. It gets worse and worse, and I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom."
So begins the adventures of our protagonist, Rosamond Vivian, the granddaughter of a wealthy mysterious man who lives on an unnamed island. This statement will continue to haunt the rest of the book, and is a giant foreshadow, but that's the kind of book this is.
Rosamond is soon swept away by an older man. She spends a year of blissful ignorance with him, when suddenly *lightening crash* he is revealed a cad! She, being of upstanding will and impeccable moral character, flees for the safety of her soul. A chase ensues through the rest of the story which keeps you on the edge of your seat. (Cliche phrase aside, it really is quite suspenseful.)
I give this book eight out of ten awesome-read points, and would recommend it to you even if you were not of the Little Women persuasion. You really would never be able to put the two books together. This book deals with sex, suicide, murder, stalking... All the dark elements that make people morbidly interested in things. Yet, the story has enough light elements in it that you don't leave manically depressed.
It's as Victorian thriller that you could probably give the label pulp fiction to, but the writing is good enough that you could compare bits of it to Jane Eyre. Give it a read.
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