Birthday blog
In a blog post published by The Huffington Post on Louisa May Alcott’s 182nd birthday, Professor of English Beverly Lyon Clark discusses how Little Women continues to touch readers nearly 150 years after its publication.
“Career and family. Independence and interdependence. … Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women portrays the attractions of both poles in ways that still speak to women and men, to budding writers and political figures, to homeschoolers and queer advocates, in the 21st century,” Clark writes in the blog’s introduction.
Her new book, The Afterlife of Little Women, was published in October by Johns Hopkins University Press.
In the blog post, published November 29, Clark notes how Little Women has been identified as a childhood favorite by many public figures, including Gloria Steinem, Connie Chung, Hillary Clinton and Patti Smith.
Clark also discusses how to this day Little Women is celebrated in a variety of interpretations and spinoffs. As example, she highlights the work of Wheaton student Ann Marie Brasacchio ’16, a chemistry major who rewrote the book’s first chapter, basing it on her own family, for a term paper.