(:)(:)(:)(:)(:) (click here to understand my snout-based rating system) for Masterpiece’s recent 2 part adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Like most avid (white American) girl readers of my era, I adored Louisa May Alcott and read and re-read Little Women countless times (I was particularly obsessed with Eight Cousins, one of her lesser known works. It was the book I read whenever I was sick and couldn’t read anything else.)
However, it having been decades since I’ve read Little Women and having seen only 1 or 2 screen adaptations of it, I had failed to appreciate what a feminist masterpiece this story is and how perfect for our times.
In an era where women are simultaneously captivated by Pride and Prejudice and #metoo, enter Little Women. This is a story where you get young women dressing up in gowns and courting, with the central figure Jo (not Josephine) March (the author’s voice) turning down her suitor because she is focused on her writing–in late 19th century America.
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| Louisa May Alcott |
I read that the American Library Association recently removed Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from a prestigious children’s book award for her culturally insensitive portrayals in her popular Little House on the Prairie series (possibly a subject for a different post). Perhaps they should consider renaming it after Louisa May Alcott. While Jo does eventually marry an older professor in the story to run a boy’s school with him, the real Jo March, Louisa May Alcott, remained single throughout her life and was an early feminist and abolitionist. She and the book are a true inspiration for our times.