NIU scholar sees place among literary giants
for ‘Little Women' author Alcott 

by Tom Parisi

Mary Shelden first read “Little Women” when she was about 10, has read it many times since and considers the coming-of-age story among her all-time favorite books.

Now she's working to ensure that more students nationwide are exposed to the genius of author Louisa May Alcott.

Alcott's “Little Women” has enjoyed immense and enduring success, in its original form and in adaptations in print, on stage, in film and on television. Most recently, the story of the March sisters growing up in 19 th Century New England was adapted as a Broadway musical that will begin touring nationally in August.

Since it was published shortly after the Civil War, the book has never been out of print.

“Despite all of her success, Alcott isn't always taken seriously, especially because she's seen as a children's author,” Shelden says. “Yet anyone who reads ‘Little Women' with attention knows she was writing for adult readers as well.

“There's a tendency to see women's coming-of-age stories as works for children, while men's coming-of-age stories are viewed as literature,” Shelden adds. “ ‘Huck Finn' is taught to almost every high school student, but ‘Little Women' is rarely taught in high school. I'd like to see that changed.”

Shelden, an assistant editor at the “Writings of Henry D. Thoreau,” based at NIU, recently spearheaded the founding of the Louisa May Alcott Society. The national scholarly organization was established in late May at the 16th annual conference of the American Literature Association. It will foster scholarship on Alcott and support the study of her work.

Shelden earned her doctorate in English in 2003 at NIU and included a chapter on Alcott in her dissertation. She was astonished to learn that no scholarly society existed to support the study of Alcott's prodigious body of work. It includes writings in several different genres, from firsthand accounts of her service as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War to thrillers written anonymously or under pseudonyms for the sensational press that flourished during the 1860s.

Alcott is best known, though, for “Little Women.”

Originally written in two volumes published in 1868 and 1869, the story is a fictional account of her own experiences growing up. Shelden notes that Alcott remains the most widely read author of the 19th century, with “Little Women” consistently outselling such works as “Moby Dick” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” both considered literary masterpieces. Figures as influential and diverse as Jane Addams, Josephine Baker and Teddy Roosevelt have noted their personal debt to Alcott's masterwork.

“ ‘Little Women' continues to resonate with audiences today, in part because it's a wonderful story about an interesting, progressive family,” Shelden says. “The four sisters portrayed in the book each have different journeys as they come of age. There's an affirmation of both traditional roles for women and new womanhood as it was evolving into the turn of the century. The character that Alcott drew from herself, Jo March, is a gender rebel who is blazing a new trail for women in the world.”

Shelden says her position with the “Writings of Henry D. Thoreau,” a project dedicated to producing accurate texts of the author's complete works, provided access to scholars who helped create the Alcott Society. During her lifetime, Alcott had personal connections to Thoreau as well. Her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, a well-known transcendentalist philosopher and educator, was a friend of Thoreau's. Louisa May Alcott's first published work, “Flower Fables,” was based on the fairy stories that Thoreau used to tell Louisa and her sisters in their excursions around Walden Pond .

Shelden is serving as secretary of the newly created Louisa May Alcott Society. Other scholars serving on the society board include Elaine Showalter of Princeton, Daniel Shealy of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte , Joel Myerson of the University of South Carolina and Madeleine Stern, author of the first important Alcott biography, published in 1950.

“The formation of the Louisa May Alcott Society is a dream come true for me,” Shelden says. “I'm delighted to have this opportunity to interact with scholars whose work I have so long admired.”

Those interested in joining the society can contact Shelden at mshelden@niu.edu .

6-20-05