VOICE 1:
I’m Steve Ember
VOICE 2:
And I’m Shirley Griffith with theVOA Special English program, People in America. Every week we tellabout a person important in the history of the United States. Todaywe tell about Louisa May Alcott. She wrote one of America’s bestloved children’s books.
VOICE 1:
In eighteen-sixty-eight, an American publisher asked a strugglingyoung writer to write a book for girls. At first, the writer, LouisaMay Alcott, was not sure she wanted to do it. She said she neverliked girls. And she never knew many, except her sisters. Shethought her family’s activities and experiences might be interestingto others. But, she said, probably not.
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Alcott decided to write the book anyway. She told about herexperiences growing up in the northeastern United States during themiddle of the nineteenth century. Her book proved to be more thaninteresting. “Little Women” became one of the most popularchildren’s books in American literature. It has been published inmore than fifty languages.
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VOICE 1:
Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania ineighteen-thirty-two. She was the second of four daughters. She hadone older sister, Anna. And two younger sisters, ElizaBeth, calledBeth, and may. Her parents were Bronson and Abigail Alcott. Herfather was an educator and social reformer.
The Alcotts later settled in Concord, Massachusetts. Severalgreat American writers were friends of the family. They includedRalph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.Mister Alcott provided the girls’ education. He taught them manysubjects. He also made them write about their personal thoughts andexperiences.
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The Alcotts did not have much money. Louisa worked to helpsupport her family. She tried teaching, sewing, and taking care ofchildren. She did not like any of these Jobs.
Louisa thought of herself as a writer. At the age of sixteen, shewrote her first book. It was called flower fables. She decided tosell what she wrote. She wrote many kinds of poems, stories, andplays. Her stories were exciting, but unrealistic. She sold them tonewspapers and magazines for small amounts of money.
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In eighteen-sixty-two, during the American civil war, Louisa MayAlcott went to Washington, D-C. She served as a nurse in a militaryhospital. She cared for sick and wounded soldiers. She wrote lettersto her family about her experiences. She included these letters in abook that was published the next year. Critics praised it but it didnot bring her much money. And, working in the hospital damaged herhealth.
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In eighteen-sixty-five she visited Europe as a helper to an olderwoman. Alcott hoped to re-gain her health. She spent a long timeaway from her family. Her health did not improve. But she thoughtabout her writing. When she returned, she agreed to her publisher’srequest that she write a book for girls based on the life she knew.
“Little Women” was published in eighteen-sixty-eight. The bookwas immediately popular with people of all ages. It brought Alcottfame and a lot of money. She continued writing other popular booksfor young people. These included an old-fashioned girl, little men,and eight cousins.
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VOICE 1:
Louisa May Alcott wrote books for adults, as well as children.She published these under another name — A.M. Barnard. These bookswere published before “Little Women” made her famous. They were verydifferent from her children’s stories. They were about love, power,and unhappiness. They have been published again in the UnitedStates.
One book is called “Behind a Mask: the Unknown thrillers ofLouisa May Alcott.” The book includes four mystery stories. Anotheris called the lost stories of Louisa May Alcott. These stories areabout love, betrayal, and illegal drugs.
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Alcott wrote a story called “A Long Fatal Love Chase.” It isabout an independent young woman. She marries an older man whoalready has a wife. She flees from him. He follows her throughoutEurope. The book tells of insanity, violence, and death. Louisa MayAlcott tried to get the book published in eighteen-sixty-six. Thepublisher rejected it. He said it was too shocking.
A man who collected Alcott materials found the unpublished storyin a bookstore in New York City. He bought it for aboutfifty-thousand dollars a few years ago. He reportedly sold it to amajor American publisher for about one-million dollars.
VOICE 1:
Louisa May Alcott wrote many exciting stories about love. Yet shenever married. She continued to support her family during the lastyears of her life. In fact, she cared for the young daughter of hersister may who died in eighteen-seventy-nine.
Alcott was involved in the movements to end slavery and to gainvoting rights for women. She wrote that “I … take more pride inthe very small help we Alcotts could give than in all the books Iever wrote.” Louisa May Alcott died in eighteen-eighty-eight.
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VOICE 2:
Louisa May Alcott’s most famous book, “Little Women”, tells thestory of the March family of Concord, Massachusetts. The storybegins during the American civil war in the eighteen-sixties. Mr.March is away from home. He is with the troops of the Union Army. Heis a religious worker. Mister March is raising her four daughters byherself.
The March family is very close. They do many things together.They do not have much money. They suffer shortages caused by thewar. Yet they share what they have with people who are in need.
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The four daughters are Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They are strong,brave, and loving. Jo is the most important person in the book. Sheis smart. She has a good imagination. She writes stories. And shecreates plays that the sisters perform together.
Jo also is independent. She chooses a non-traditional life. Shegoes to New York to become a writer. There she meets an older man, aprofessor. She returns home to care for her parents. She writesstories that become very popular. Later, Jo marries the professor.Together, they establish a school.
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VOICE 2:
The March family in “Little Women” is very much like Louisa MayAlcott’s family. Her sisters are like the sisters in the book. Andthe leading person, Jo, is like Louisa. Jo must work to support herfamily, just as Louisa had to do. One of Jo’s jobs is to help afamily member, an old woman called aunt March. Jo does not reallylike aunt March. But she loves the old woman’s house, especially thelarge library with hundreds of books. This is how Alcott writesabout this place:
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“The dim, dusty room … the cozy chairs, the globes, and, bestof all, the wilderness of books in which she could wander where sheliked, made the library a region of bliss to her. The moment AuntMarch took her nap, or was busy with company, Jo hurried to thisquiet space, and, curling herself up in the easy chair, devouredpoetry, romance, history, travels, and pictures, like a regularbookworm.”
All of these wonderful books put great ideas into Jo’s head. Jowanted to do something very wonderful, Alcott writes. “What it wasshe had no idea as yet, but left it for time to tell her.”
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Jo’s beloved sister Beth dies young, as Alcott’s own sister Bethdid. Jo is very unhappy. Her mother tells her to write because thatalways made her happy. Jo writes a story “that went straight to thehearts of those who read it.” Jo can not understand how her simplelittle story became so popular.
Her father explains, “there is truth in it, Jo, that’s thesecret; … You have found your style at last. You wrote with nothought of fame or money, and put your heart into it … ; You havehad the bitter, now comes the sweet.”
VOICE 1:
Louisa May Alcott’s book, “”Little Women”,” is still extremelypopular. Women who read the book when they were young often give itto their daughters. Some famous American women even claim theydecided to become writers after reading how Jo March became a writerin “Little Women”.
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VOICE 2:
This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. Itwas produced by Paul Thompson. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE 1:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another Peoplein America program on the Voice of America.