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Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography, by Susan Cheever
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Louisa May Alcott never intended to write Little Women. She had dismissed her publisher’s pleas for such a novel. Written out of necessity to support her family, the book had an astounding success that changed her life, a life which turned out very differently from that of her beloved heroine Jo March.
In Louisa May Alcott, Susan Cheever, the acclaimed author of American Bloomsbury, returns to Concord, Massachusetts, to explore the life of one of its most iconic residents. Based on extensive research, journals, and correspondence, Cheever’s biography chronicles all aspects of Alcott’s life, from the fateful meeting of her parents to her death, just two days after that of her father. She details Bronson Alcott’s stalwart educational vision, which led the Alcotts to relocate each time his progressive teaching went sour; her unsuccessful early attempts at serious literature, including Moods, which Henry James panned; her time as a Civil War nurse, when she contracted pneumonia and was treated with mercury-laden calomel, which would affect her health for the rest of her life; and her vibrant intellectual circle of writers and reformers, idealists who led the charge in support of antislavery, temperance, and women’s rights.
Alcott’s independence defied the conventional wisdom, and her personal choices and literary legacy continue to inspire generations of women. A fan of Little Women from the age of twelve, and a distinguished author in her own right, Cheever brings a unique perspective to Louisa May Alcott’s life as a woman, a daughter, and a working writer.
- Sales Rank: #312287 in Books
- Published on: 2011-11-08
- Released on: 2011-11-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.44" h x 1.00" w x 5.50" l, .60 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 298 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Little Women was the idea of Alcott's publisher, who bullied her into writing it. Louisa may, Cheever speculates, have taken revenge on Bronson Alcott--a friend of the great Transcendentalists, but an irresponsible and browbeating father--by leaving him out of her semiautobiographical masterpiece. A revolutionary educator whose uncompromising high-mindedness made him a financial failure, Bronson was critical of and often punished the rebellious Louisa. But his close friendships with men like Emerson and Thoreau blessed Louisa with a unique circle of mentors, whom Cheever depicted in American Bloomsbury. Alcott gradually lost everyone dear to her: her beloved sister Lizzie died at 22, and her sister Anna's marriage felt like a betrayal. Struggling so hard for wealth and fame that when it came she was too ill and weary to enjoy it, Louisa never married and died two days after Bronson. Cheever laces this provocative biography with musings on the genesis of genius, and her identification with Jo March when she was a rebellious girl in the throes of puberty. While some may find Cheever's digressions and self-referencing grating, most will savor this work--surely a future book club staple--as keen, refreshing, and authoritative. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Nov.) (c)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
At a time when author biographies swell with sociopolitical overviews and literary analyses, Cheever has opted to tell a straightforward, concise story. She may add nothing new to readers’ knowledge of Alcott’s life and legacy, but the critics gave her points for enthusiasm and insight. However, there were some serious concerns about Cheever’s persistent digressions, peculiar theories, and questionable conclusions. And while the Washington Post would have liked to hear more about Cheever’s relationship with her own wayward father, John Cheever, others complained that she inserted herself into the narrative too much already. “The best thing about Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography,” muses the St. Petersburg Times, “is that it revives discussion of Alcott and sends people back to Little Women.”
From Booklist
The author of American Bloomsbury (2007), a collective biography of the extraordinary clutch of creative types who lived in nineteenth-century Concord, Massachusetts (Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, etc.), Cheever revisits this familiar territory but this time focuses on only one of these talents, Louisa May Alcott. The author of Little Women seems to be an irresistible subject for biographers, since hers was a life filled with fascinating associations, an extraordinary family, poverty, dazzling success, declining health, and more (who says authors’ lives are dull?). Unfortunately, Cheever plows no new ground here and tacitly admits so by regularly acknowledging the more original work of earlier biographers. Too, she tends to inflate Alcott’s literary importance, as in the case of her purported influence on Henry James. All that said, hers is a smoothly written and sympathetic introduction to this always fascinating woman who was both a celebrated writer and an early and stalwart champion of women’s rights. --Michael Cart
Most helpful customer reviews
53 of 55 people found the following review helpful.
A good beginner biography
By YA Librarian
Louisa May Alcott has been given a lot of press lately. She had a documentary made about her last year, an amazing biography by Ms. Reisen, two spoofs on her book Little Women, a novel entitled The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, this biography and a new nonfiction book dealing with the Alcotts' experience at Fruitlands. Finally, Louisa May Alcott is getting the recognition she deserves. Although, perhaps we shouldn't celebrate too much about the spoofs.
With eager anticipation I waited for this book. I snatch up all biographies on Alcott. It's always interesting to see what an author thinks of the famous woman. This book is a small one, coming in at only 260 pages. The rest of the book consists of notes and a bibliography. Since it is so short don't expect anything mind blowing. As the title to my review suggest this is a good beginner biography.
The book starts in 1832, but flashes back to Louisa's childhood. I wasn't fond of this approach, but it isn't a deal breaker. For almost half of the book it's about the Alcott experience, not about Louisa. I'm wondering if the author did this to strengthen her argument that those in the family were Alcotts first and individuals second. Louisa's personal journals are rarely used in this book. Everyone in the Alcott family kept a journal, yet these journals are not referenced as much as they could be. However, I wonder if Elizabeth had a journal. I cannot recall anyone every using quotes from it. The second half of the book has more quotes from Louisa and she becomes the focus of the book.
We get brief glimpses into her life. For instance, when Liz dies there is only one quote about Louisa seeing the mist rise from her dead sister's body. However, in another book I recall reading a moving moment where Louisa was sewing the burial cloth and was so overcome by emotion she fled the room. That's more of an emotional punch than "Look mist is rising." We knew that her younger sister was an important part of Louisa's life yet the author glosses over her death. The author also gets her information wrong by saying that Liz was the youngest Alcott sister more than once.
The sisters are hardly mentioned. While I understand this is a book about Louisa, the author wrote about Mr. Alcott a great deal. Didn't her sisters have an impact on Louisa's life as well?
I also agree with Publishers Weekly that ".. some may find Cheever's digressions and self-referencing grating." I most certainly did. I'm not interested in her thoughts on how writers think about books or how they write. This isn't a self help book for writers, this book isn't about Ms. Cheever, its a book about Louisa May Alcott.
There were some interesting theories dropped in this book, one in particular grabbed my attention. But the problem is the author never backed up the statement. She throws it into our laps and uses one sentence to defend it and then that's it. For example on page 28 the author explains how Bronson was released from a job for "caressing the students-especially the females." He wrote this in his own journal. So, was he a child molester? And did he molest Louisa and that is why she was so wild? The author asks "Can we apply a twenty first century context for a few scraps of nineteenth-century journal?" I dunno, but I think that's what the author is doing. Which, is fine, but let's get some more evidence to back this statement up. Why even write it? Let's investigate. But there is no investigation. The small paragraph just hangs there on the page sticking out like the large elephant in the room. As a reader I'm wondering what should I do next? Do I dwell on this or move on? I choose to move on.
This book was decent, but you won't find anything in this new biography that you couldn't find in a dozen other biographies on Louisa May Alcott. The writing is good, and its an easy read, which one cannot say about all non fiction books. If someone is looking for a quick biography on Louisa and they have never read anything about her life then this book is fine. However, for Alcott fans who have read Ms. Reisen and other biographies on Alcott this one will fall flat.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
Even Less Enthusiastic than Librarian and Her Dotness
By Anjuli
I must not only second the two fairly lukewarm reviews of this book already entered, but perhaps go even further. I, like Librarian, read every biography I can find of Alcott, and have been enthralled by such studies as "The Alcotts" by Madelon Bedell (and I longed for the second volume for years until I learned Bedell had passed away before completing it -- a tremendous loss to Alcott scholars) and "Eden's Outcasts" by John Matteson. I teach a course on Alcott, her works and her life and times, at Allegany College of Maryland. And I am sorry to say that I was disappointed by Cheever's book.
The most blatant concerns I have are factual ones, and while they may seem trivial, they tend to undermine Cheever's overall credibility. It has already been noted that Cheever repeatedly refers to Elizabeth as Alcott's youngest sister, when she was, in fact, the third of the four Alcott girls. On page 9 Cheever mentions Bronson Alcott's brother, William. William Alcox (Alcott) was, in fact, Bronson's cousin, not his brother. Cheever also maintains at one point that Louisa grew up unloved by her parents, who considered her wild, aggressive, uncontrolled and intractable, and valued her only for her ability to produce income -- a claim which I find shocking in the extreme. While Bronson Alcott's emotions are difficult to interpret and frequently mixed, there is little doubt that he shared at least a reluctant kinship with his literary daughter and took great pride in her accomplishments. And a reading of the existing notes from Abba Alcott in her daughter's journal shows a mother, at least, who is attentive, supportive, forgiving, encouraging and unfailingly loving.
But Cheever's oversights tend not only to the facts of Alcott's life, but to the details of her novels as well. Cheever maintains that Polly Milton, the heroine of "An Old-Fashioned Girl" is the Shaw's cousin, when she is, in fact, no relation at all -- she is the friend of a mutual friend, and meets Fanny Shaw when Fanny is on a visit to that mutual friend in the country. Cheever also claims, on p. 213, that Alcott includes "...a few pages describing the noble Revolutionary family that Polly claims as her own, but which is actually the May family..." In fact, if you read "An Old-Fashioned Girl," the "Revolutionary family" is not depicted as being Polly's relatives, but the antecedents of the Shaw family through their Grandma, "Madame Shaw." The stories are told by Madame when Polly entices the younger Shaws to spend an afternoon listening to Madame reminisce. In "Little Women" Cheever says that "...the family newspaper the 'Olive Branch' became the 'Spread Eagle'" (p. 202) and that "Alcott's Civil War illness, which cost her her luxuriant hair, became Jo's sacrifice of her hair for the Civil War cause." In fact, the 'Spread Eagle' would be more akin to 'Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly,' in which Alcott published her "blood and thunder" stories, and the 'Olive Branch' more like the 'Pickwick Portfolio,' the family- produced organ of the Little Women; and Jo March did not sacrifice her hair for the Civil War cause, but to raise the money to finance her mother's trip to Washington to nurse her father in the hospital there.
Such caveats may sound like mere quibbling, but they shake the foundations of the overall credibility of Cheever's work, and raise the question of whether or not her research is sound. I found absolutely nothing new in this book -- no groundbreaking discoveries or revolutionary theories about Alcott -- in fact, no particular reason for writing this biography, since it adds nothing to the Alcott biographical oeuvre. And again, I must concur with previous reviews on this page which find the insertion of Cheever's musings and extraneous ruminations to be intrusive and jarring. If I seek a series of essays on culture, morals, intellect, creativity or life in general, I'd prefer to turn to Emerson.
I don't wish to be too damning, but this biography just jarred me repeatedly with questionable conclusions, sometimes contradictory in nature, and a general unreliability of factual content which makes one question not only those conclusions but also the factual statements which ARE accurate. If one is looking for a beginner's biography of Alcott, may I suggest Cornelia Miegs' "Invincible Louisa" instead? And for the adult, more advanced student of the Alcotts, either the previously mentioned "Eden's Outcasts" or "The Alcotts," which, though it only chronicles the first part of Louisa's life, does a splendid job of portraying the family in all its ambivalence, eccentricity and talent. I am moving on to Riesen's recent biography next, and hope to enjoy that one more, but as for Cheever, I regret to say that I will not be revisiting this book.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Seconding YA Librarian's review
By Her Dotness
I really must agree that this is at best a beginner biography of Alcott. In fact, I think it a bit Freudian that it is subtitled "A Personal Biography." In this case, "personal" applies more to Cheever herself what with her many interjections of her own observations about the writer's craft than it does to Alcott.
Not only does Cheever refer more than once to Elizabeth as Alcott's youngest sister as YA Librarian mentioned but also makes a thoroughly ignorant error common to non-Catholics when she refers on p. 25 to Abner Kneeland's jailing "for ridiculing the concept of a virgin birth as manifest in the Immaculate Conception." Immaculate Conception refers to the belief that Mary was born without original sin so as to make her more fitting to be the Mother of God. In only a tangential sense does the concept relate to the virgin birth. It certainly is not the same thing. I was left wondering how many other such notable errors there are which I didn't spot or unknowingly took as facts.
Rather than merely echo YA Librarian's very thoughtful review, I will simply add that Cheever might have done better to have focused solely upon how Alcott's personality and writing were influenced by her relationships with family and friends. I really felt that unless the reader is relatively familiar with the stature of such personages as Horace Mann, the Peabody sisters, Emerson, Thoreau and Margaret Fuller, one will not come away from this book enlightened very much as to the impact that such luminaries may have had upon Alcott herself. The fact of the matter is that all of these people were much more influential upon Bronson Alcott, thereby leading me to think that a book about the complex relationship Alcott had with her family and how that was translated into her mature works might have been more within Cheever's grasp. As Cheever casts them, Emerson and Thoreau seem to have been little more than idols or perhaps crushes of Alcott's. As the two men are portrayed by Cheever, I concluded that they served more as kindly uncles for Alcott rather than their thinking having had much influence upon her enduring works.
Not a bad book by any means but somewhat unsatisfying.
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