Eden's Outcasts; the Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson was an excellent biography of the author and her remarkable father. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew a bit about her life and a bit less about her father but this book remedied that lack; it is an in depth study of both. This book was recommended as the first read in a year long readalong: A Year with Louisa May. I've been wanting to read more by Louisa May Alcott for a while so I am excited by the prospect of reading through much of her work in the course of a year (November 2019 through October 2020). The first actual read by Alcott is in December with Little Women (appropriate for December since the famous first line is about Christmas).
I was only vaguely aware that Bronson Alcott was one of the famous Transcendentalists of Concord, MA. He was a long time friend of Emerson (who was really a good friend and a good man; this book made me want to read more of his work. I only recall reading bits of Emerson in a survey of American Lit way back in high school). He also was friends with Thoreau and Hawthorne. Even though I am a nature lover, I never got on well with Thoreau that much, finding him a bit pompous. But I have come to really love Hawthorne's works.
This book begins with Bronson's youth, then his marriage to Abba May (Marmee!) and the birth of their four daughters. Bronson was a philosopher who pretty much lived in the clouds. He attempted to start a commune called Fruitlands which failed terribly. He went through some really tough times mental health wise. He never was able to earn enough to support his family They lived in real poverty. In fact Emerson helped him out on numerous occasions, financially. Abba had to take in or go out to work and it was a never ending struggle to keep a roof over their heads. They moved frequently.
Alcott treated his kids like a social experiment. He analyzed them continuously. He was an unceasing moralizer. He wanted so much to believe in the goodness and capacity for the divine in mankind that he was forever on the watch for moral failings. Life was one long struggle to sanctify oneself. He kind of was the opposite of some Protestants who think we are nonredeemable sinners who can only be saved by grace. Whereas Alcott was about man constantly monitoring his (and his family's) every thought and emotion as he works to perfect himself. Everyone kept journals as a matter of course which they were all allowed to read, so no privacy there.
While Alcott means well and has some really great points, it took me a long time to like him very much. He did have sincere affection for his wife and daughter but he was always so caught up in his own mind that he couldn't really translate it into actually being much help or comfort. He was a bundle of contradictions. He was a great abolitionist who actually thought blacks were inferior. He was a lifelong vegetarian (even vegan) who was fine with John Brown's murdering people in the name of abolition. He hated commerce and money and yet he charged for his 'conversations;' really his own kind of lecture. He did love children and loved to study and watch how they learned. I do really like some of his educational philosophy.
Louisa May Alcott was the most difficult of his children and he really didn't appreciate her talents until after she came home from being a nurse in the Civil War. She was only there for six weeks yet it really changed her life in an enduring way. She'd finally earned her father's respect (at age 30) and she almost died of typhoid. In fact she went insane for a while from the fever and possibly from the mercury poisoning the doctors gave her in an attempt to heal her. She suffered from that mercury poisoning all her life and it eventually turned her into an invalid who died when she was 54.
Louisa was indelibly tied to her father though. They shared the same birthday and Louisa went into a coma before she could hear of her father's death, dying two days after him. She admired him deeply and he came to really treasure her.
There was a lot to love about the Alcott family. And they were in the thick of a uniquely American blossoming of philosophy and literature. I found it fascinating. Matteson wrote an excellent, balanced and sympathetic biography.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment