Little Women at 150, a new collection of scholarly essays about Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, has an official publication date of March 8, 2022. It is fitting that the University Press of Mississippi is releasing this collection during Women’s History Month, for Little Women has had a tremendous impact on the history of women ever since the first part of the novel came out in October 1868. For more information about Little Women at 150, please click on the following link: https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/L/Little-Women-at-150
Daniel Shealy, the editor of Little Women at 150, is my friend and long-time colleague in the English Department at UNC Charlotte. Over the years, he has edited numerous books related to Alcott, including The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott, The Journals of Louisa May Alcott, Alcott in Her Own Time, and Little Women: An Annotated Edition. During his long career, he has become well known among the other leading Alcott scholars. In editing Little Women at 150, he has drawn on his many connections in the field, and the result is a collection of eight original essays by top Alcott scholars. As the reviewer for Publishers Weekly states, “the contributors do a great job of considering the classic novel in original, surprising lights.”
The contributors to Little Women at 150 provide insights into why Little Women has had such a lasting impact on the history of American literature. These scholars look at Alcott’s novel from different perspectives, but they all discuss the relationship between Alcott’s novel and the larger world. A number of the contributors point out that Little Women reflects 19th-century values and attitudes. However, as is discussed in several of the essays, Alcott’s novel also raises questions about societal values and attitudes, especially as they relate to gender roles. In the words of Roberta Seelinger Trites, one of the contributors to the collection, Alcott “creates a philosophical space in which her female characters can articulate ideas about language, nature, and self—and without fear of censure.”
In thinking about Little Women at 150 as it relates to Women’s History Month, I am in agreement with the contributors that Alcott’s Little Women should be viewed as one of the canonical texts in the history of American literature and that Alcott should be included among the pantheon of major American authors from the 19th century. However, the impact of Little Women on women’s history is not limited to the 19th century. I assigned Little Women as required reading in my graduate children’s literature seminar this semester, and it sparked a lively debate about the book’s portrayal of gender roles during our class discussion. It’s clear to me that Little Women still speaks to contemporary readers. In his introduction to Little Women at 150, Daniel writes that the collection “looks backward and forward in time, not only to the influence of the novel upon readers and writers but also to the future.”
I commend Daniel for editing this thoughtful collection of essays and for helping us better appreciate Alcott’s place in history. I am fortunate that one of the world’s leading Alcott scholars is just down the hall from my office, and Storied Charlotte is fortunate that Daniel has pursued his career as a scholar and teacher at UNC Charlotte.