The Annotated Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott, John Matteson (Editor)

Overview

The Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer of Louisa May Alcott illuminates the world of Little Women and its author.

Since its publication in 1868–69, Little Women, perhaps America’s most beloved children’s classic, has been handed down from mother to daughter for generations. It has been translated into more than fifty languages and inspired six films, four television shows, a Broadway musical, an opera, and a web series. This lavish, four-color edition features over 220 curated illustrations, including stills from the films, stunning art by Norman Rockwell, and iconic illustrations by children’s-book illustrators Alice Barber Stevens, Frank T. Merrill, and Jessie Wilcox Smith.

Renowned Alcott scholar John Matteson brings his expertise to the book, to the March family it creates, and to the Alcott family who inspired it all. Through numerous photographs taken in the Alcott family home expressly for this edition—elder daughter Anna’s wedding dress, the Alcott sisters’ theater costumes, sister May’s art, and Abba Alcott’s recipe book—readers discover the extraordinary links between the real and the fictional family.

Matteson’s annotations evoke the once-used objects and culture of a distant but still-relevant time, from the horse-drawn carriages to the art Alcott carefully placed in her story to references to persons little known today. His brilliant introductory essays examine Little Women’s pivotal place in children’s literature and tell the story of Alcott herself—a tale every bit as captivating as her fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393072198
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/02/2015
Series:	The Annotated Books
Edition description:	Annotated
Pages:	744
Sales rank:	490,558
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 2.20(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) is a much beloved author of American literature, in particular the Little Women trilogy, centered on the semiautobiographical March family (Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys). Best known in her time for Little Women, An Old-Fashioned Girl, and Little Men, her obituary in the New York Times declared, “There was probably no writer among women better loved by the young than she.”

John Matteson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Eden’s Outcasts and the Ann M. Sperber Prize for The Lives of Margaret Fuller. A Distinguished Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, he lives in the Bronx.

Editorial Reviews

"[John] Matteson, who won the Pulitzer for his biography of Alcott and her father, brings all his knowledge to bear on this behemoth edition of the novel, brimming over with artifacts and sidebars that attempt to illuminate this classic novel without defining it."

NPR - Genevieve Valentine

"Like other Norton Annotated Classics, The Annotated Little Women offers a bridge from nostalgia to a deeper understanding of the work, balancing Matteson's introduction, annotations and lengthy biographical essay with an inviting array of illustrations, photographs and color movie stills."

Chicago Tribune - Amy Gentry

09/15/2015
Readers attuned to this sort of book may wonder, weren't we just here? Two years ago saw an annotated edition of Little Women (Belknap: Harvard Univ.) edited by Daniel Shealy, which was attractively packaged and deeply researched but not necessarily a volume one might pick up for fun. Here, editor Matteson (Eden's Outcasts) is at least partly out for a good time. He humanizes Alcott's characters by noting that the March sisters "are who they are because of what they read." Matteson aims to re-create the experience of a March, or an Alcott, and his populist approach should be welcomed by a wide readership. Some of the annotations cover similar information, but the works diverge greatly in depth of content. Despite source overlap for illustrative matter, this new book doesn't recycle the material of the aforementioned one. Matteson thanks Shealy in his acknowledgements and cites two of Shealy's works as further reading, making his text less of a competitor than an audience broadener. VERDICT Readers who found Shealy's title a bit too detailed might do well with this one. Those who appreciated the earlier edition will find Matteson's less enlightening.—Audrey Snowden, Orrington P.L., ME

Library Journal