Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Louisa May Alcott'

This project analyzes the ways that Louis May Alcott portrays authors in several texts, including Hospital Sketches (1863), "Enigmas" (1864), "Psyche's Art" (1868), Little Women (1868), A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), and Diana and Persis (1878). An examination of prevailing contemporary theories of authorship reveals that Alcott's interest in authorship (as shown through her experiences as a writer and the author figures she depicts within her writing) cannot be adequately analyzed under any of the existing theoretical frameworks because the theories neglect to consider markers of racial, sexual, cultural, and class-based difference. Being a female author in nineteenth-century America was, for Alcott, a preoccupation. Thus much of her writing features representations of authors. For Alcott, as well as many of her female contemporaries, the question "What does it mean to be an author?" cannot be considered without also asking, "What does it mean to be a woman?" and "How can an author be represented in a text?" Alcott's treatment of these questions in her writing was her attempt to create a dialogue between herself, other writers, and her reading public. By studying Alcott's author figures, I advance a model of authorship that highlights issues of gender and multiplicity; in this way my work has applications to other authors who have been excluded by normative definitions of authorship. The concept of "mutable authorship," a model that more accurately incorporates Alcott's treatment of authorship, is the product of several different literary, historical, and feminist theoretical lenses. This dissertation works through the different structuring figures that Alcott uses to represent the author, beginning with the semi-autobiographical first-person narrator and moving to the more metaphorical figures of the artist and the performer. The discussion culminates with the exploration of adaptation and collaboration in the three Hollywood feature films of Alcott's best-known work, Little Women, and several recent texts that respond directly to Alcott's work.

My thesis investigates the processes of reciprocal, transatlantic literary exchange between Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century. While these specific transnational relations have received much critical attention in recent years, I extend current theoretical frameworks by focusing on how women‘s domestic fiction operates as a currency for literal and ideological interchanges between Britain and the United States. Concentrating primarily upon Elizabeth Gaskell‘s and Louisa May Alcott‘s fictions, I trace how they operate as 'transatlantic domestic narratives‘. I use this term to refer to the mobility of their material texts as they circulate within a transatlantic community, and also to articulate the generic narrative tropes on which their domestic fictions rely. I explore, therefore, how the rhetoric of domesticity – as transmitted through the transatlantic domestic narrative – becomes a shared medium through which specific localised concerns can be articulated and circulated within a transatlantic arena. Focusing on four domestic tropes which were common on both sides of the Atlantic – home, the worker, the nurse, and the witch – I illustrate how both Gaskell and Alcott mobilise these four narrative structures in order to contribute to local and transnational debates in which national, literary and gendered identities are created and contested. Both authors‘ fictions, I demonstrate, exemplify, and have a significant impact upon, a transatlantic literary marketplace.

Este trabalho de projeto visa a apresentação de uma proposta de tradução dos contos “M.L.”, “The Brothers”, “A Hospital Christmas” e “Nelly’s Hospital”, da autoria de Louisa May Alcott, para a língua portuguesa. Tomando como suporte teórico deste trabalho os procedimentos de tradução preconizados por Jean-Paul Vinay e Jean Darbelnet e os contributos de Itamar Even- Zohar, Gideon Toury, André Lefevere e Lawrence Venuti no âmbito da tradução literária, pretendemos salientar a diversidade de fatores que entram em jogo na tradução literária enquanto processo intercultural, realçando que, neste campo, há sempre uma negociação entre perdas e ganhos nas apostas interpretativas que deverão ser feitas pelo tradutor. Sendo certo que nenhum texto pode ser traduzido em todos os seus aspetos, e não tomando como adequada apenas uma abordagem, procurámos adotar uma posição de compromisso e responder ao que é exigido ao “tradutor negociador” (Eco, 2005). Desenvolvemos, assim, um exercício de equilíbrio que procurou não “apagar” o Outro, nem colocar em causa a fluência e legibilidade do texto traduzido; The American Civil War in “The Brothers” and other short stories by Louisa May Alcott: a commented translation ### Abstract: This project work aims to present a translation of the short stories “M.L.”, “The Brothers”, “A Hospital Christmas” and “Nelly’s Hospital”, by Louisa May Alcott, into Portuguese. Taking as theoretical basis the translation procedures advocated by Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet, and the contributions of Itamar Even-Zohar, Gideon Toury, André Lefevere and Lawrence Venuti in the context of literary translation, we intend to point out the diversity of factors that come into play in literary translation as an intercultural process and emphasise the fact that, in this field, there is always a negotiation between losses and gains in the interpretive choices made by the translator. Certain that no text can be translated in all its aspects, we did not consider only one approach as adequate, and attempted to adopt a compromise position and respond to what is required to a " translator as a negotiator" (Eco, 2005).We tried to establish a balance that would not “erase” the Other, nor jeopardise the fluency and readability of the translated texto.

Women authors in mid to late nineteenth century American society were unafraid to shed the old domestic ideology and set new examples for women outside of racial and gender spheres. This essay focuses on the ways in which Elizabeth Stoddard's The Morgesons, Louisa May Alcott's Behind a Mask, and Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House represent the function of fashion and attire in literature. Each author encourages readers to examine dress in a way that defies the typical domestic ideology of nineteenth century America. I want my readers to understand the role of fashion in literature as I progress through each work and ultimately show how each female author and protagonist set a new example for womanhood through their fashion choices.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur karaktären Amy March porträtterats i olikaadaptioner av Little Women. Utifrån Eders karaktärsklocka med ett fokus på fiktiv existensoch symptom analyseras fyra versioner, de från 1933, 1949, 1994 och 2019. Genom att utgåfrån ett genusperspektiv undersöks även hur tiden varje adaption gjorts under formatkaraktären. Resultatet av analysen visar att de två tidigare adaptionerna följer merkonventionella genrekonventioner där Jo står i fokus. De två senare adaptionerna ger merplats åt Amy och ger en mer nyanserad bild av karaktären. Dessutom för de uppmärksamhetentill den verklighet som kvinnor levde i under 1800-talet och har tydliga feministiska budskap.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 14, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-344).

The purpose of this Master Thesis is to compare two American novel suites for young women, Louisa May Alcott‟s Little Women and Good Wives to Ann Brashares series of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The social status of women and children in the US during the 19th century is analyzed and compared historically and literary with the situation 130 years later.The main question is, what differences exist in the books and is there a connection between the changes in society and literature?The method of this Master Thesis is to make a comparative narratological analysis placed in a historical context.The result shows that the multiple character remains and enhances the identification process. Motherhood in the works of Alcott is prominent, whereas in the works of Brashares, sisterhood replaces motherhood.In Alcott‟s US during the 19th century, Christian faith was in the foreground. The goal for girls was the holy matrimony, followed by the sanctuary of heaven. Brashares depicts, in the 21st century, self-fulfilment to be aspired on earth.The strength of Alcott‟s portrayed sisterhood is weakened when marriage is consumed. In Brashares works, the love relationships are no longer the sole purpose of life and consequently not a competitor to the sisterly friendship.

This essay argues that Little Women does not promote breaking stereotypical gender norms and nineteenth century gender roles, contrary to what several critics say. This paper will be using feminist criticism and analyzing two of the novel’s main characters, Meg and Jo, and examining their behavior towards stereotypical gender norms and rules. This essay concludes that while Jo challenges certain gender norms and roles, such as having “manly” emotions (anger) and taking on male-dominated jobs (author), within the narration she is punished for these and forced to become a conventional woman of the nineteenth century in order to live a happy life. On the other hand, Meg follows the rules of societal gender expectations and is rewarded for her behavior. By examining these two characters, this essay establishes that Little Women, because it is a didactic novel, delivers the moral that women can only be truly happy if they fit into stereotypical gender norms and roles.

L'elaborato analizzerà l'opera di maggior successo della scrittrice americana Louisa May Alcott, ossia Little Women. Dopo una discussione sui temi principali, sulle caratteristiche e sui personaggi che costituiscono il romanzo, si passerà ad un commento sui due più recenti adattamenti cinematografici di Little Women, quello del 1994 diretto da Gillian Armstrong e quello del 2019 di Greta Gerwig, dimostrando come il libro di Alcott sia capace, dopo più di un secolo e mezzo, di essere fonte di ispirazione per lettori e spettatori e come sappia essere sempre attuale ad attualizzabile.

Tese de doutoramento em Letras, Área de Estudos de Tradução, especialidade de Teoria, História e Práticas da Tradução, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
Esta tese decorre do Doutoramento em Estudos de Tradução, especialidade de Teoria, História e Práticas da Tradução, da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, surgindo como conclusão de um percurso iniciado em 2006/2007, com a minha inscrição nesse Curso, e é fruto do meu interesse pela área da Tradução e pelos Estudos de Género. O presente trabalho de investigação estuda as traduções portuguesas do romance Little Women, da escritora norte-americana Louisa May Alcott, realizadas e publicadas durante o Estado Novo (1933-1974). Inicialmente publicada em 1868 com o título Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, seguiu-se-lhe uma segunda parte, em 1869; em 1880, a editora Roberts Brothers juntou as duas sob o título único de Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – Parts I and II. Neste trabalho apenas se analisa a primeira parte, embora se faça referência, sempre que pertinente, às alterações sofridas na versão de 1880. O estudo parte de um levantamento tão exaustivo quanto possível das traduções realizadas em Portugal durante o Estado Novo (1933-1974), que são objeto de caracterização. O corpus resulta de uma seleção efetuada de acordo com três critérios: as traduções terem sido publicadas dentro da baliza cronológica estabelecida, o da conceção das traduções enquanto romances juvenis e o caráter direto das traduções. Selecionaram-se assim para análise e comentários as seguintes traduções: 1.ª edição da Portugália Editora (1943), com tradução de Maria da Graça Moura Brás, a 4.ª reimpressão desta edição (s.d.), a tradução da Livraria Civilização (1957), sem identificação de tradutor/a, a obra Quatro Raparigas, da autoria de Maria Paula de Azevedo (1958), e a edição do Círculo de Leitores (1971), que segue o texto da Portugália Editora, com uma revisão de Mouro Pires. O trabalho centra-se numa das personagens femininas do romance, Jo March, que, pelo seu temperamento e linguagem, pouco conformes com a imagem do feminino ideologicamente sancionada, levanta a questão do modo como terá sido olhada pelo aparelho ideológico no contexto de chegada, colocando-se a hipótese de manipulação nos textos portugueses, de acordo com o quadro ideológico do Estado Novo. Para testar esta hipótese, traçam-se as coordenadas ideológicas do período no que toca à imagem das mulheres e ao seu papel no contexto social. Procedeu-se a um cotejo entre original e traduções, tentando apurar em que medida houve manipulação e consequente reconfiguração da personagem, o que permitiu identificar procedimentos e estratégias tradutivas diversas, mas em geral consonantes na sua dimensão ideológica. Procurou-se apurar os pontos de confluência e/ou divergência nas soluções encontradas pelos/as vários/as tradutores/as e a forma como as suas decisões influenciaram a leitura assim possibilitada aos/às leitores/as portugueses/as da obra Little Women. Como metodologia mais produtiva, a presente tese segue uma abordagem de natureza empírica e descritivista, com base nos contributos dos Estudos Descritivos da Tradução.
This thesis follows on from the Doctoral Degree in Translation Studies, major in Translation Theory, History and Practice, at the Faculty of Letters, University of Coimbra; it ends a path that has started with a registration in 2006/2007, reflecting my interest in Translation and Gender Studies. The present piece of research studies the Portuguese translations from American author Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women, which were made and published during Estado Novo or “New State” (1933-1974). This book was initially published in 1868 with the title Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and a second part followed in 1869; in 1880, a publisher called Roberts Brothers published both parts, as a single volume, under the name of Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – Parts I and II. In this work only the first part is analysed, albeit reference is made, whenever appropriate, to the changes the 1880’s version has undergone. This study stems from an inventory as thorough as possible, of translations done in Portugal during the Estado Novo, or “New State” (1933-1974), that are depicted here. The corpus comes from a selection respecting three criteria: translations being published during Estado Novo, conceiving translations while youth novels and the straightforward nature of the translations. Thus, the following translations were selected for comment and analysis: a 1st edition from Portugália Editora (1943), translated by Maria da Graça Moura Brás, a 4th reprint of this edition (n.d.), a translation published by Livraria Civilização (1957), with no reference to the translator, the book Quatro Raparigas (Four Girls), by Maria Paula de Azevedo (1958), and an edition from Círculo de Leitores (1971), that follows the text from Portugália Editora, revised by Mouro Pires. The work is focused around one of the female characters in the novel, Jo March; Through both her disposition and language used, which reflect little accordance to the ideologically conveyed female role model of those times, a question is brought up of how she must have been looked upon by the ideological apparatus of the target context, including the possibility of tampering with the Portuguese texts, in accordance with the ideological framework of Estado Novo. To test this hypothesis, ideological coordinates are drawn, concerning the image and role of women in the social background of that time. A distinction between original text and translations was then undertaken with the intent to check to what extent was there a manipulation and subsequent reconfiguration of the character, which allowed the identification of procedures and diverse translation strategies, generally in line with its ideological dimension. It was a concern to put the points of agreement and disagreement down in black and white, regarding the solutions found by the various translators and the way their decisions have influenced the comprehension of Little Women provided to the Portuguese readers. The present thesis follows an empirical and descriptivist approach - a more prolific methodology - based on inputs from the Descriptive Translation Studies.

Dissertação de mestrado em Tradução, apresentada à Fac. de Letras da Univ. de Coimbra
O presente trabalho tem como objectivo efectuar a crítica de uma tradução portuguesa do romance de Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868), publicada em 1977 com o título de Mulherezinhas. Dada a cada vez maior importância da tradução, e porque a crítica de tradução permite o estreitamento da relação entre a teoria e a prática, torna-se relevante avaliar a qualidade dos textos traduzidos, tendo em conta, essencialmente, a sua função e os seus objectivos. As considerações apresentadas relativamente à adequação, ou não, das escolhas de tradução verificadas nesta versão portuguesa têm por base as posições teóricas de Katharina Reiss acerca das potencialidades e limites da crítica de tradução; a perspectiva funcionalista de Christiane Nord, nomeadamente no que diz respeito às especificidades do texto original, o contexto da tradução e a sua função junto dos leitores da língua de chegada; e, por fim, os parâmetros de avaliação sugeridos por Jamal Al-Qinai. A análise apresentada começa por estabelecer a diferença entre “erros” e “problemas” de tradução, procedendo-se de seguida à avaliação da qualidade da tradução em estudo de acordo com os critérios de avaliação enumerados, atendendo às características dos diferentes tipos de textos existentes ao longo do romance e em permanente cotejo entre a tradução e o original, o que constitui, aliás, um dos pressupostos da crítica de tradução.
The present work aims at presenting the critique of a Portuguese translation of Louisa May Alcott‟s novel Little Women (1868), published in 1977 under the title of Mulherezinhas. Given the growing relevance of translation, and because translation criticism shortens the gap between theory and practice, it is important to assess the quality of translated texts, especially taking into account their function and their purposes. The considerations presented regarding the adequacy, or inadequacy, of the translation options analyzed in this Portuguese version are based on Katharina Reiss‟ theoretical stance on the potentials and limitations of translation criticism; on Christiane Nord‟s functionalist perspective, namely in what concerns the characteristics of the source text, the context of the translation, and its function in relation to target language readers; and, finally, on the translation quality assessment parameters suggested by Jamal Al-Qinai. The analysis presented begins by establishing the difference between translation errors and translation problems, followed by an evaluation of the translation‟s quality according to the outlined assessment parameters. The features of the different types of texts found in the novel have been given special consideration, and a constant comparison between the translation and its original, one of the ground rules for translation criticism, has been observed.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 11, 2007) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Bramen, Carrie. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2005.
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Moore, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Program in American and Florida Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 17, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 51 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

My dissertation is a historicist examination of the circulatory relationship among popular fiction, theatre, and related non–fiction texts in mid–nineteenth–century America. Though previous critics have acknowledged interactions between mid–century theatre and print, none have fully fleshed out the performative contexts or social consequences of this interplay. In contrast, I contend that the narrative and visual exchanges between theatre and literature are crucial to deciphering how different social classes formed and distinguished themselves. My central claim is that cultural arbiters from the print world (including activist authors and advice–text writers) and from the public amusement realm (entrepreneurial theatre producers and melodrama playwrights) poached each other's work in order to capitalize on preexisting consumer communities. By cultivating socially homogenous audiences, these arbiters became vital contributors to the consolidation of self–conscious, class–based identities in nineteenth–century America. Chapter One examines George Lippard's urban–crime novel The Quaker City; or The Monks of Monk Hall (1844). In it, I argue that Lippard reproduces apocalyptic scenes of disaster familiar to readers from spectacle–centric theatrical melodramas in order to unify a diverse working class. Chapter Two contends that W.H. Smith's temperance melodrama The Drunkard (1844) co–opts the real–life speeches of working–class temperance lecturers and reframes them as a middle–class landlord's story of redemption; through featuring this popular show at their curiosity museum theatres, proprietors Moses Kimball and P.T. Barnum established the nation's first theatrical spaces solely for middle–class audiences. Chapter Three claims that the 1860s proliferation of home theatrical guidebooks—which detailed how to construct makeshift stages, simulate special effects, and adapt well–known stage dramas—offered the emergent middle classes a viable substitute for commercial theatergoing and a key outlet to reinforce their social status. My final chapter studies Louisa May Alcott's sensation novella Behind a Mask; or, A Woman's Power (1866), a work which engages the dissertation's collective themes of theatricality, social class, and private space. By depicting a professional actress utilizing her theatrical skills to infiltrate an aristocratic family, Alcott presents the private estate as the ideal venue to gain social status and reveals performance as a critical means for upward mobility.

This dissertation examines how Concord, Massachusetts became a heritage town in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Concord-based authors (including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott) at once contributed to Concord’s attractiveness as a location and took advantage of the growing reputation and popularity of the town as a tourist site. Their writings, rooted in Concord, drew attention to the town and to themselves as authors within it, while also elevating the stature of American literature. Linking literature and site-building, Concordians encouraged contemporaneous sightseeing in a curated landscape. This sets the origins of tourism and site-building in Concord earlier than standard academic narratives of Progressive Era preservation in New England. The primary contribution of this interdisciplinary study is to trace the ways in which collective memory was fashioned for an audience of literary “arm-chair travellers” and then employed to endow private houses with literary and historical importance to national heritage, as public locations to be visited and preserved in Concord’s landscape. This work traces the development of spiritualized “places” in Concord from Revolutionary War monument-building to Emerson’s literary community investing the landscape with poetic associations, Hawthorne’s engagement of tourism as an appeal to readers, and George William Curtis’s efforts to market Concord as a national literary retreat. It further examines Thoreau’s literary career in relation to his interest in local history, tourism, and museum-building in his hometown. Finally, the popularity of Alcott’s Little Women boosted tourism in Concord, and the increase of visitors coincided with projects to memorialize Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Transcendentalist movement in the landscape. These efforts culminated in the development of guide books and organized tours for visitors, and the emergence of a local souvenir industry. The study concludes with the institutionalization of historic house museums in the early twentieth century.

This thesis is focused on the representation and characterization of female characters in the novel The Deerslayer from The Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy from James Fenimore Cooper in contrast to the concept of female characters in the book from Louisa May Alcott Little Women. There is analyzed images of female fictional heroines living in the American wilderness in the years 1740-1805, and these findings are compared with the representation of women in the 19th century domestic novel Little Women. The way of creating female characters is analyzed in relation to the other characters, the space in which they live, the storyline and contemporary values. This analysis should in a literary historical aspect reveal how much the role of a woman becomes a mere fulfillment of a simplified scheme and how it also has many meanings of full-fledged components in literary work. The author of this thesis also focuses on the influence of the environment on the formation of female characters and tracks their role not only in American novels but also in the society. Key words woman, gender, novel, cult of True Womenhood, James Fenimore Cooper, Louise May Alcott, topoi of the forest, home, american wildernes

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 26, 2007) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Hubbard, Stacy C. Includes bibliographical references.