The Portable Louisa May Alcott

Although the publication of Little Women in 1868 earned Louisa May Alcott tremendous popularity, for a long time she was thought of as a writer of children's stories and considered— at best— a minor figure in the American literary canon. Now, at the end of the twentieth century, Alcott's vast body of work is being celebrated alongside the greatest American writers, and this collection shows why. The Portable Louisa May Alcott samples the entire spectrum of Alcott's work: her novels, novellas, children's stories, sensationalist fiction, gothic tales, essays, letters, and journals. Presenting her more daring works, such as Moods and Behind a Mask (both reprinted in their entirety), alongside the familiar heroines of Little Women, this singular collection offers readers a rich and wide-ranging portrait of this talented, prolific, and influential writer.

Introduction
Chronology
I. Short Fiction
My Contraband
A Whisper in the Dark
Thrice Tempted
La Jeune; or, Actress and Woman
Psyche's Art
My Mysterious Mademoiselle
Cupid and Chow-chow
Queen Aster
II. Novels and Novellas
Moods
Behind a Mask; or, A Woman's Power
From Little Women, part 2:
Literary Lessons
Friend
From Work: A Story of Experience:
At Forty
From A Modern Mephistopheles
Chapters XII, XIII, and XV
From Jo's Boys
Plays at Plumfield
Among the Maids
III. Memoirs, Journals, and Letters
Transcendental Wild Oats
Journals:
Fruitlands (1843)
Concord (1845-47)
Boston (1850-57)
Concord (1858-62)
Georgetown (1862-63)
Moods (1864-65)
Little Women (1868-69)
Emerson's Death (1882)
Letters:
To Abigail May Alcott, December 25, 1854
To Amos Bronson Alcott, November 29, 1856
To Anna Alcott Pratt, date uncertain
To Annie Maria Lawrence, February 3, 1865
To Moncure Daniel Conway, February 18, 1865
To Mr. Ayer, March 19, 1865
To the Lukens Sisters, September 4 [ 1873]
To Lucy Stone, October 1, 1873
To Maria S. Porter [ 1874]
To Lucy Stone, June 29 [ 1876]
To John Preston True, October 24 [ 1878]
To Thomas Niles, February 12, 1881
To Thomas Niles, February 19, 1881
To William Warland Clapp, Jr. , March 6, 1883
To Maggie Lukens, January 14 [ 1884]
To Maggie Lukens, February 5 [ 1884]
To Maggie Lukens, February 14 [ 1884]
To the Woman's Journal, May 8, 1884
To Lucy Stone, August 31 [ 1885]
To Thomas Niles, [ June? ] 1886
Notes to the Letters
Selected Bibliography