The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Library guests chat with ‘Louisa May Alcott’
Author from yesteryear portrayed by Lisa L. Wiley
History walked into Amherst Public Library with a visit from “Louisa May Alcott.”
Notoriously private and suspicious of reporters, many details of the 19th century “Little Women” author remained unknown until 50 years after her death.
Alcott, portrayed by Lisa L. Wiley Nov. 4, took visitors through the story behind the reclusive author, exploring her impoverished youth, the strong influence of her parents on her intellectual curiosity, the failure of her family’s utopian Fruitlands community in the 1840s along with her experiences during the Civil War.
“Tell the reporters to go away. Anna, tell the reporters that I am not there. It is not a lie for I am not there, I am here,” “Wiley said. “And tell them to take the autograph seekers with them! Of all the sad words to hear, the saddest to an author’s ear is: autograph please.”
Picking up as Alcott is preparing to sell her longtime Concord, Massachusetts, home known as Orchard Park, she tells the story of her influences.
While Alcott is known for “Little Women” the semi-autobiographical literary
classic was not necessarily a natural progression, with Wiley’s dramatic portrayal referring to its success as the “first golden egg from the ugly duckling.”
“They wanted me to write a novel for and about
girls. What did I know about girls? I was never a girly girl. I liked to climb trees,” Wiley said. “I liked to play. I liked to run,”
Alcott’s father had a manuscript on philosophy and history and the publisher
agreed to consider it if she wrote “Little Women,” Wiley explained.
“What choice did I have? I wanted to help my father and his writing career. So I said that I would write a novel about girls,” she said.
“So I decided to write about what I knew. And what I did know was about the girls in my family.”
In addition, Alcott’s seeking to maintain her privacy allegedly asked her sister Anna to destroy all of her journals. A series of stories about kidnapping, spies, hashish and cross dressers called “Blood and Thunder” tales under the pen name A.M. Barnard were not discovered until 1974. It is believed there could be numerous undiscovered Alcott writings remaining, she said.
Women in History is a non-profit organization based in Lakewood dedicated to educating people through re-creating the lives of notable women in U.S. history.
Alcott, portrayed by Lisa L. Wiley Nov. 4, took visitors through the story behind the reclusive author, exploring her impoverished youth, the strong influence of her parents on her intellectual curiosity, the failure of her family’s utopian Fruitlands community in the 1840s along with her experiences during the Civil War.