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Work: A Story of Experience

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Work: A Story of Experience
First edition title page
AuthorLouisa May Alcott
LanguageEnglish
GenreSemi-autobiographical novel
PublisherRoberts Brothers
Publication date
1873
Publication placeBoston, United States
Media typePrint (Hardback)

Work: A Story of Experience, first published in 1873, is a semi-autobiographical novel by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, set in the times before and after the American Civil War.

Background and publication history

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Originally entitling it Success, Alcott wrote Work: A Story of Experience over the span of several years. She originally began the novel when she was eighteen years-old.[1] She picked it up again as a twenty-eight-year-old in January 1861, but took a break to nurse her ill mother.[2] She continued Work in 1863 during her recovery following a bout of typhoid fever contracted during her service as a nurse in the American Civil War.[3] She recommenced the novel in 1872[4] when in November Henry Ward Beecher of The Christian Union requested a serialized novel.[5] Alcott agreed, needing the money after having just paid for her father to go on a speaking tour.[6] When she began writing, Alcott fell into what she called a "vortex", explaining that she "Can't work slowly; the thing possesses me, and I must obey till it's done."[7] Her writing was interrupted by various circumstances, including the Great Boston Fire of 1872.[6] Along with others, Alcott evacuated the city.[8] In January she was able to continue writing for hours a day,[6] preparing three copies of the final draft to send to The Christian Union as well as her American and British book publishers. She wrote on impression paper and pressed so hard that her thumb was paralyzed for a time and damaged for the rest of her life; when this happened, she wrote with her other hand.[9]

In writing the book Alcott drew upon "The Public Function of Woman" by Theodore Parker, in which he argued that the innovations accompanying industrialism would lighten a woman’s domestic load, allowing her to work for money if she wished. Alcott used the sermon to model the protagonist Christie's experiences in the workforce.[10] Alcott identified Parker as the model for the character Reverend Power.[11] Additionally, she based the characters David Sterling on Henry David Thoreau and Hepsey Johnson on Harriet Tubman, both of whom she personally knew.[12] The protagonist, Christie, has various jobs which reflect jobs Alcott took as a young woman during her struggle to find employment following the death of her sister Elizabeth in 1858.[13] Alcott biographer Ruth K. MacDonald suggests that the name Christie Devon may have been Alcott's stage name during a stint with the Boston Theatre Company, as the name appears in a list of the participants.[14]

Upon the novel's completion in February 1873,[9] Alcott dedicated it with the following inscription: "To my mother, whose life has been a long labor of love."[6] Alcott felt unsatisfied with the finished product because she felt that the interruptions weakened the novel's quality.[15] The novel was serialized in The Christian Union from 1872-1873 and published in book form in June 1873 by Roberts Brothers.[16] There were 15,000 pre-orders of the book, which set back the date of publication.[17] Solomon Eytinge drew illustrations for the book version.[18] Alcott donated some of the proceeds from sales to support the poor.[19] In 1875 Sampson Low published Beginning Again. Being a Continuation of Work, which consists of the last eleven chapters of the Roberts Brothers edition.[20]

Plot

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Twenty-one-year-old orphan Christie Devon decides to leave her aunt and uncle to support herself financially and travels to the city, where she becomes a housekeeper. While there, she befriends the cook, Hepsey Johnson, who is a former slave, and teaches her how to read and count so she can free her family. After a year, Christie loses her job after a fire-related accident. Christie befriends two actresses who help Christie become an actress. Three years later, an accident at the theater injures Christie and she decides to quit. Following her recovery, she becomes a governess for the Saltonstall family. Mrs. Saltonstall's brother, Philip Fletcher, falls in love with Christie. When he proposes, she refuses because he does not see her as an equal. Because she refused the proposal, Christie decides she can no longer work for the Saltonstalls. Instead, she becomes the companion of Helen Carrol, an invalid. Christie interests Helen, and after several months, Helen's health improves. Helen becomes anxious after finding out that her youngest sister Bella has a beau. Helen explains to Christie that insanity runs in the family and she is worried that Bella, who does not know about it, will pass it on to her children. Helen reveals her own insanity and later commits suicide. Bella finds out about the hereditary insanity, deciding not to marry.

Christie leaves the Carrols and becomes a seamstress, meeting another seamstress, Rachel. When their employer finds out that Rachel is a fallen woman, Rachel is fired. Christie pleads on Rachel's behalf and is also fired. Christie offers Rachel a home, but she is afraid of ruining Christie's reputation and leaves. Christie finds another sewing job, becomes ill, falls into debt, and is about to lose her room and board. As she contemplates suicide, Rachel finds her and refers her to Cynthy Wilkins, who gives her a temporary home. Cynthy invites Christie to listen to Reverend Power. Rev. Power recommends Christie to Mrs. Sterling, a widowed Quaker woman in the country. Mrs. Sterling has a son, David, who lives with her and is a florist; David is sorrowful because he believes his sister died long ago. When Christie arrives, she becomes the Sterlings' house assistant. Christie notices that, though ostensibly cheerful, David is unhappy. He confesses to Christie that he is unsatisfied with a quiet life but stays for his mother's sake. After seeing this side of David, Christie falls in love with him. She attempts to stifle her romantic feelings because he sees her as a friend, but they remain.

The Sterlings' previous assistant, Kitty, arrives to escape an engagement. Kitty flirts with David, and Christie grows jealous when she suspects that David is developing romantic feelings for Kitty. Christie decides to leave and becomes Rev. Power's secretary. Rev. Power regularly hosts gatherings at his house, which both Christie and David attend. One night Philip attends and Christie introduces him to David. Afterward, Philip attends regularly while David stops coming. Though Christie is not in love with Philip, she considers marrying him for financial security. When Christie asks Cynthy for advice, she tells Christie to marry for love, not money. Christie declines Philip's second proposal. David visits Christie and shares that he has discovered his sister Letty is alive, explaining that Letty and Rachel are the same person. He explains that he forbade her from returning home after she eloped, since then regretting it and thinking she was dead. He asks Christie to return, confessing his love for her and his jealousy of Philip. She agrees, and they return together.

Shortly after, the American Civil War begins. A year later, David enlists and Christie decides to serve as a nurse. Two months later, David is called to duty and marries Christie before leaving. Though Christie is working in the hospital and David is in the camp, they visit each other frequently. Several months through their service, David is fatally wounded while liberating a slave woman. Christie stays with him until he dies, then returns home and prepares to give birth to their baby. Years later, Bella Carrol visits and asks for employment advice. Christie, who still runs David's greenhouse and advocates for working-class women, asks Bella to create a group that discusses social reform. Christie and several women commit to supporting each other in their work.

Reception

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Alcott's Work: A Story of Experience received a mix of positive and negative critical reviews. While the Boston Daily Advertiser praised Alcott's depiction of the working class,[21] the Daily Evening Traveller proclaimed that it was "likely to be a rival" in popularity with Alcott's other novels.[22] Boston's The Evening Post felt that it lacked the cheerfulness of her other works and criticized its "sudden 'ups and downs'".[23] The Worcester Evening Gazette opined that "the finished book is one which women love, and men find mildly interesting, if no more."[24] The Springfield Daily Republican wrote that the "teachings [were] sound and attractive" but felt it would have been a better novel if there was more tragedy and wrongdoing among the characters.[25] The Springfield Daily Union considered the plot haphazard and stated that the novel was likely to prevent women from working, though it saw the book as a "plea for independence for woman through work".[26] The Ladies' Repository concluded that serializing the novel led to its episodic style.[27] In speaking of the episodic structure, Appletons' Journal wrote that the book was "a mosaic of good things, badly put together".[28]

Mary Thacher of Old and New praised the "absences of the current slang-phrases" that show up in Alcott's other works.[27] Thacher also expressed a dislike for the chapter about Helen Carrol, calling it "melodramatic" with a "morbid tinge".[29] The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art called Helen's suicide a "horrible climax" and claimed that this chapter was not "good art", stating that only writers similar to Edgar Allan Poe should write things like it.[30] In its review, The Literary World commended the novel's dialogue, calling it the best found in Alcott's works; it also stated that the book would "come very near doing positive good".[29] Eclectic Magazine opined that "it is no more 'a story of experience' than Utopia is a sketch of existing social conditions" and declared that Alcott was better at writing children's books.[31] Harper's New Monthly Magazine criticized the plot design while claiming that readers would be inspired by the story.[32] The Lakeside Monthly felt there was an "undeniable insufficiency of imagination, thought, and sentiment" and argued that Philip Fletcher undergoes more character development than David Sterling does.[33] The Nation was also critical of the novel's lack of imagination, declaring that it was "nothing as a work of art".[34]

When the Alcotts hired a new housekeeper following the novel's publication, they found out that she had read Work and decided to follow Christie's example.[35]

Themes

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It is one of several nineteenth-century novels that show "the changes in women's work in the new industrial era, as well as the dilemmas, tensions, and the meaning of that work".[36]

Alcott takes her heroine, Christie Devon, through a variety of careers, from the domestic to the dramatic to the depressing, until Christie finds the balance between public and private work and between work for her own profit and work for the profit of others. [...] Alcott portrays work outside the home (which is fundamentally public) as potentially dangerous to a woman's reputation, health, and identity [... and] work inside the home (which is fundamentally private) as healing and regenerative, but ultimately unsatisfying to an ambitious woman like Christie.[36]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Cheney 2010, p. 265; Ullom 1969, p. 12
  2. ^ MacDonald 1983, p. 84; Adams 2016, p. 57; Reisen 2009, p. 159; Delamar 1990, p. 279
  3. ^ Saxton 1995, p. 265.
  4. ^ Elbert 1987, p. 239.
  5. ^ Elbert 1987, p. 242; MacDonald 1983, p. 84
  6. ^ a b c d Elbert 1987, p. 242.
  7. ^ Elbert 1987, pp. 239–240.
  8. ^ Reisen 2009, p. 247.
  9. ^ a b Reisen 2009, p. 248.
  10. ^ Stern 1984, pp. 192–193.
  11. ^ Stern 1984, pp. 186, 192.
  12. ^ Stern 1984, p. 199; MacDonald 1983, p. 85; Reisen 2009, pp. 101, 248
  13. ^ Stern 1984, pp. 196–197; MacDonald 1983, p. 85
  14. ^ MacDonald 1983, p. 86.
  15. ^ Reisen 2009, p. 249.
  16. ^ Clark 2004, p. 185; Ullom 1969, p. 12; Stern 1984, p. 197; Delamar 1990, p. 278
  17. ^ Clark 2004, p. 192.
  18. ^ Ullom 1969, p. 12.
  19. ^ Elbert 1987, p. 248.
  20. ^ Alcott 1873, p. 219; Alcott 1875, p. 1; Payne 1980, p. 2
  21. ^ Clark 2004, p. 184.
  22. ^ Clark 2004, p. 185.
  23. ^ Clark 2004, pp. 185, 188.
  24. ^ Clark 2004, p. 189.
  25. ^ Clark 2004, pp. 190, 192.
  26. ^ Clark 2004, pp. 192–193.
  27. ^ a b Clark 2004, p. 196.
  28. ^ Clark 2004, p. 201.
  29. ^ a b Clark 2004, p. 197.
  30. ^ Clark 2004, p. 215.
  31. ^ Clark 2004, pp. 207–208.
  32. ^ Stern 1984, p. 186.
  33. ^ Stern 1984, pp. 189–191.
  34. ^ Clark 2004, p. 206.
  35. ^ Elbert 1987, pp. 248–249.
  36. ^ a b Melton, Bonnie (1999). "In and Out of the Kitchen: Women's Work and Networks in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction". womenwriters.net. Archived from the original on 9 November 2000.

Works cited

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  • Alcott, Louisa May (1873). Work: A Story of Experience. Roberts Brothers.
  • Alcott, Louisa May (1875). Beginning Again. Being a Continuation of Work: A Story of Experience. Sampson Low.
  • Cheney, Edna Dow (2010). Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals. Carlisle, Massachusetts, USA: Applewood Books. ISBN 978-1-4290-4460-8.
  • Clark, Beverly Lyon (2004). Louisa May Alcott: The Contemporary Reviews. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521827805.
  • Delamar, Gloria T. (1990). Louisa May Alcott and "Little Women": Biography, Critique, Publications, Poems, Songs and Contemporary Relevance. Jefferson, NC, USA: McFarland. ISBN 0-89950-421-3.
  • Elbert, Sarah (1987). A Hunger for Home: Louisa May Alcott's Place in American Culture. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-1199-2.
  • MacDonald, Ruth K. (1983). Louisa May Alcott. Boston, MA, USA: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7397-5.
  • Payne, Alma J. (1980). Salzman, Jack (ed.). Louisa May Alcott: A Reference Guide. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: G. K. Hall & Co. ISBN 0-8161-8032-6.
  • Reisen, Harriet (2009). Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-8299-9.
  • Saxton, Martha (1995). Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography. USA: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
  • Stern, Madeleine B., ed. (1984). Critical Essays on Louisa May Alcott. G. K. Hall and Company. ISBN 0-8161-8686-3.
  • Ullom, Judith C., ed. (1969). Louisa May Alcott: An Annotated, Selected Bibliography. Washington, D. C., USA: Library of Congress.

Further reading

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  • Adams, Katherine (2016). "Feminist Alcott?". In Eiselein, Gregory; Phillips, Anne K. (eds.). Critical Insights: Louisa May Alcott. Ipswich, MA, USA: Salem Press. ISBN 978-1-61925-521-0.
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