Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters

"From Miss Manners: "Note to ignorant gentlemen: Marmee is the mother of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March, the "Little Women" of Louisa May Alcott's novel, on which proper young ladies are still brought up, so they can learn to eschew exaggerations of domesticity, passivity and selfishness in favor of warm and energetic self-reliance." Pretty much says it all. Rioux looks at the ongoing cultural significance of this much dismissed and yet much loved feminine classic, all but ignored by the academy, and generally dismissed by (mostly male) literary critics. Rioux argues that Alcott's semi autobiographical novel is an essential part of the American literary canon, and an exemplar of American values. She examines the passionate debate over Alcott's conception of a woman's role, and how this has influenced generations of women's writing worldwide, as well as television shows like <i>The Gilmore Girls</i>, <i>Sex and the City</i> and <i>Girls</i>. In particular she stresses its importance for boys, and how the emphasis on "guy reads" has diminished the value given to books about female experiences.<br/><br/>This summer, when PBS held a countdown for the best loved novel of the American people , [b:Little Women|1934|Little Women|Louisa May Alcott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388269517s/1934.jpg|3244642] beat out the [b:The Chronicles of Narnia|11127|The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449868701s/11127.jpg|781271], [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490528560s/4671.jpg|245494], [b:The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|24583|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1404811979s/24583.jpg|41326609], [b:Alice in Wonderland|13023|Alice in Wonderland|Lewis Carroll|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391458382s/13023.jpg|2933712], [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413215930s/656.jpg|4912783], and [b:Moby-Dick or, The Whale|153747|Moby-Dick or, The Whale|Herman Melville|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327940656s/153747.jpg|2409320]. Not too shabby. Clearly Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy do still matter to a lot of people."