Resumo de Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is primarily remembered for
her children?s classics, especially for Little Women and its
sequels. She was however a multi-faceted personality,
possessed of a deeply independent spirit and reforming
energy. Contemporary research has revealed that Louisa
Alcott wrote works aimed at adult audiences also, though
under a pseudonym. She was also active as a nurse and a
suffragette.

Louisa May Alcott, the second daughter of Amos Bronson
Alcott and Abigail ?Abba? May was born in Germantown,
Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. In 1840 the family moved
to Concord. Louisa enjoyed acting out plays with her
sisters, which she had written, and also spent time with
family friends Thoreau and Emerson. In 1843 the Alcott
family took part in an experimental communal village known
as the Fruitlands. Unfortunately the project failed and the
family returned to Concord in 1845. Louisa later wrote of
this experience in Transcendental Wild Oats.

Despite his intellectual and social standing, Bronson Alcott
was not a good provider and the family moved back to Boston
in 1849. Feeling more and more responsible for her family's
financial needs Louisa started taking on a variety of jobs.
She and her elder sister Anna taught small children and
mended and washed laundry in an effort to help provide for
the growing Alcott family.

In 1852 Louisa published her first poem "Sunlight? in
Peterson's magazine under the pseudonym, Flora Fairfield.
Her first published short story was ?The Rival Painters?.
Her first book, Flower Fables was published in 1855. At this
point, the Alcott family moved to Walpole, New Hampshire but
Louisa stayed on in Boston to further her literary career.
The third Alcott daughter, Lizzie, contracted scarlet fever
and her illness forced the Alcotts back to Concord where
Emerson purchased Orchard House for the family. Lizzie
passed away in 1856 and Anna was married soon after. Louisa
returned to Concord in 1857 to keep her mother company.

She went to Washington, DC. in 1862 to serve as a Civil War
Nurse. Like many other nurses, Louisa contracted typhoid
fever and although she recovered, she would suffer the
effects of mercury poisoning for the rest of her life. Her
stay in Washington prompted Louisa to write Hospital
Sketches, which was published in 1863 followed by Moods in
1864.

At this point Louisa's publisher, Thomas Niles, told her
that he wanted "a girls story" from her. This was the
turning point in Louisa?s literary career. She wrote
furiously for two and a half months and produced Little
Women based on her own experiences of growing up as a young
woman with three other sisters. The novel, published on
September 30, 1868, was an instant success and sold more
than 2,000 copies immediately. The publisher begged for a
second volume. Good Wives, the second volume of Little Women
was released on April 14, 1869 and more than 13,000 copies
were sold at once. Alcott's story of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy
had launched her into stardom and helped to alleviate the
family's financial problems.

Louisa and her youngest sister May went to Europe in the
same year for a break. The next few years saw her career
prosper rapidly as book after book was published and enjoyed
by a huge audience of young readers. An Old Fashioned Girl
was published in 1870, Little Men in 1871, followed by Work
in 1873, Eight Cousins in 1874, and its sequel Rose in Bloom
in 1876.
Louisa Alcott was also active in the women's suffrage
movement, writing for "The Woman's Journal". In 1879 she
became the first woman in Concord to register to vote in the
village's school committee election.

Unfortunately, her mother?s health was failing and she
passed away in 1877. Louisa?s youngest sister May died in
1879, leaving behind a daughter Lulu named after Louisa. In
1880 Louisa took Lulu to Boston and in 1885 ed what
remained of her family to Boston.

Though she continued to produce books for younger readers,
Louisa also wrote adult thrillers and novellas like A
Woman?s Power, A Modern Mephistopheles etc. Still writing as
best as she could, for the mercury poisoning she had
received early in life was beginning to take its toll,
Louisa published Jo's Boys in 1886. Her father's health
finally failed and he died on March 4, 1888. Two days later,
at the age of 56, Louisa May Alcott died in Boston, leaving
a behind a legacy of several books which would be admired
and cherished for generations to come.

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