Victorian Smackdown: Five Little Peppers v. Four Little Women, Part 2

September 30, 2015 · by Kate Gilbert | in Beyond Books, General, The Story of Books | tagged Bronson Alcott's unflattering portrayal of Hawthorne in Concord Days, Daniel and Harriett Lothrops' friendship with Hawthorne, Five Little Peppers a rip-off of Little Women, Five Little Peppers and its portrayal of poverty, Harriett Lothrop's life of privilege, Hawthorne's disdain for utopian visionaries, Little Women's portrayal of poverty, Lothrop Publishing and sentimental approach to children's literature, Lothrops v. Alcotts in Concord Massachusetts society, Louisa May Alcott and "moral pap for the young", Louisa May Alcott's first hand knowledge of poverty, Sentimentality in Victorian children's literature, Unfriendly relations between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Bronson Alcott | 9 Comments

Last week, I speculated about possible tension between Louisa May Alcott and Harriett Lothrop (“Margaret Sidney”), who, along with Nathaniel Hawthorne, lived in The Wayside in Concord, Massachusetts during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the week between that first post and this, I was delighted to discover a book by Patricia West, Domesticating […]