Little Women | The Borders of Ethical, Erotic, and Artistic Possibilities in Little Women
In the following essay excerpt, Murphy surveys critical approaches to Little Women, finding “the novel does not permit rigid answers” to attempts to analyze its meaning and significance. Comparison is made with Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Twenty years of scholarship about Louisa May Alcott's most famous and enduring work, Little Women, testifies to the complicated process of re-examining a novel widely recognized as a classic in American children's literature. This critical reevaluation of Alcott has been complicated by the publication of her previously uncollected and largely unavailable gothic thrillers, which reveal a new dimension to the familiar author, both enriching our reactions to Little Women (especially to the silencing of Jo March's own anxious authorship of pseudonymous...
[The entire page is 5263 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
Tell a friend about Little Women at eNotes.
