Louisa May Alcott 1832-1888
Known for Little Women, Alcott is a perennial favorite among American writers. LMA grew up under the influence of the great Transcendalists, literally on the doorstep of Ralph Emerson and H. D. Thoreau. Emerson shows up as Emerboy in a short story of A Modern Cinderella, published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1860, shortly after Lowell printed an article entitled, "Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?" in 1859. Obviously the response from the editorial staff of The Atlantic was a decisively positive as her writing appeared within its pages, probably much to the chagrin of Bronson Alcott, who although resented her professionally, relied on her income to pay the bills.
A Modern Cinderella broadly lampoons Bronson Alcott's attitude toward women in society a well as Victorian values that women should be married and not professionally engaged. Although Robert Niles solicited LMA for a book suitable for young ladies (meaning filled with moral admonitions), thereby providing the publishing channel for Little Women and the subsequent series, it seems that LMA maintained her own set of values regarding women's role in society. She wasn't passively submissive to Bronson's demands, but recalcitrant in everything.
A Modern Cinderella parodies her own role within the Alcott family as the faithful servant, ever willing to sacrifice her time and needs for those around her. The dialogue is witty, filled with repartee with allusions to the daily activities of the Alcott household and the notables of Concord. The plot is simple. Three sisters need to find appropriate partners to provide them with the feathered nest of life, lampooning Austen along the way while broadly employing Perrault's story. Di, the long-suffering diva, the insufferable older sister, drags about Wilhelm Meister while she languishes through her ennui of life. Di's life is filled with the delusions of Art for Art's Sake and the fopperies of an Oscar Wilde club, but with the aesthetics of Goethe and Schiller. Laura, twitty as a sparrow for crumbs, falls for Philip, who is about as unsuitable for a husband as LMA's own father. Nan, the docile, the obedient, the loyal, is the Modern Cinderella, tossing her shoe for good luck after the departing form of John.
In reading Alcott, it is surprising to find so many phrases have become catch phrases within American conversation. Alcott knows instinctively how to turn a cliche into something fresh, edged with a bit of mirthful satire through the use of hyperbole gained from the acquaintance of Thoreau.
