Research Catalog

Title

Louisa May Alcott unmasked : collected thrillers / Louisa May Alcott ; edited, and with an introduction, by Madeleine Stern.

Author

Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.

Publication

Boston : Northeastern University Press, ©1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Stern, Madeleine B., 1912-2007.

Description

xxix, 754 pages; 24 cm

Summary

One of America's most adored juvenile fiction writers, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) also penned anonymous and pseudonymous sensation stories for popular magazines. Her spellbinding tales of intrigue and suspense, violence and evil, jealousy and revenge, were uncovered by the detective work of Madeleine Stern and others, who scrutinized published and unpublished sources for clues to Alcott's secret literary life. Now Alcott's known thrillers are available for the first time in a single volume. Originally published between 1863 and 1870, these twenty-nine tales illuminate Alcott's versatility as a writer and her storytelling talents. The sensation stories, which feature a succession of powerful and passionate heroines, also reveal Alcott's feminist convictions. Alcott wrote for various magazines geared toward different groups of readers, and her works were tailored to conform to the standards and perceived interests of each audience. Serials carried by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, with its mass readership, were sensational shockers that contained violent themes of narcotics addiction and brutal murder, while the stories for Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine required genteel overtones and less violent plots. The toned-down sensationalism, however, did not preclude feminist heroines, or the titillation of sexual exchanges and the excitement of sexual power struggles. All the tales in Louisa May Alcott Unmasked are engaging potboilers with vivid characters, exotic backdrops, and complex plots that will beguile today's readers.

Subject

• Alcott, Louisa May 1832-1888
• Alcott, Louisa May
• Detective and mystery stories, American
• Women > Social life and customs > Fiction
• Man-woman relationships > Fiction
• Sex role > Fiction
• Detective and mystery stories, American > Literary collections
• Detective and mystery stories, American
• Man-woman relationships
• Sex role
• Women > Social life and customs
• Women
• Gender identity
• Gender roles
• Role behavior
• Interpersonal relations > Fiction
• Mystery fiction
• Short stories

Genre/Form

• Fictional Work
• Literary collections
• Detective and mystery fiction
• Fiction
• Mystery fiction.
• Fiction.
• Detective and mystery fiction.
• Romans.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [752]-754).

Contents

Pauline's passion and punishment -- A whisper in the dark -- A pair of eyes; or, Modern magic -- V.V.; or, Plots and counterplots -- The fate of the forrests -- A marble woman: or, The mysterious model -- A double tragedy. An actor's story -- Ariel. A legend of the lighthouse -- A nurse's story -- Behind a mask: or, A woman's power -- The freak of a genius -- The mysterious key. and what it opened -- The skeleton in the closet -- The Abbot's ghost: or, Maurice Treherne's temptation -- Taming a tartar -- Doctor Dorn's revenge -- La Jeune; or, Actress and woman -- Countess Varazoff -- The romance of a bouquet -- A laugh and a look -- Fatal follies -- Fate in a fan -- Perilous play -- Which wins? -- Honor's fortune -- Mrs. Vane's charade -- My mysterious mademoiselle -- Betrayed by a buckle -- La Belle Bayadére.

ISBN

• 155553225X
• 9781555532253
• 1555532268
• 9781555532260

LCCN

95001501

OCLC

• ocm31971792
• 31971792
• SCSB-8950883

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library