Page 14 - aruba-today-20240119

A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Friday 19 January 2024

A scholar discovers stories and poems possibly written by Louisa

May Alcott under a pseudonym

By MICHAEL CASEY writers, especially during
Associated Press this period, to use a pseud-
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — onym. In the case of Alcott,
The author of “Little Wom- she may have wanted to
en” may have been even protect her family’s reputa-
more productive and sen- tion, since her family who
sational than previously though poor had wealthy
thought. connections that dated
Max Chapnick, a postdoc- back to the American Rev-
toral teaching associate olutionary War.
at Northeastern University, “She might not have want-
believes he found about 20 ed them to know she was
stories and poems written writing trashy stories about
by Louisa May Alcott un- sex and ghosts and what-
der her own name as well ever,” Chapnick said.
as pseudonyms for local “I think she was canny,” he
newspapers in Massachu- continued. “She had an in-
setts in the late 1850s and kling that she would be a
early 1860s. famous writer and she was
One of the pseudonyms is trying to experiment and
believed to be E. H. Gould, she didn’t want her experi-
including a story about her mentation to get in the way
house in Concord, Mas- of her future career. So she
sachusetts, and a ghost was writing under a pseud-
story along the lines of the onym to sort of like protect
Charles Dickens classic “A Max Chapnick, a postdoctoral teaching associate at Northeastern University, right, looks as her future reputation.”
Christmas Carol.” He also Elizabeth Pope, Curator of Books & Digital Collections, points out a writing by “E. H. Gould” at the At the American Antiquar-
found four poems written American Antiquarian Society, a national research library of pre-20th century American history ian Society, a researcher
by Flora Fairfield, a known and culture, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Worcester, Mass. eagerly awaited the ar-
pseudonym of Alcott’s. Associated Press rival of Chapnick earlier this
One of the stories written But then he read the story “Over my more than thirty- lips, said she was “excited” month.
under her own name was again. year career as a literary by Chapnick’s scholarship For them, this find is valida-
about a young painter. Chapnick found the name scholar, I’ve received a and said his paper makes tion that their collection of
“It’s saying she’s really like Alcott in the story a pos- variety of inquiries, emails, a “compelling case” that nearly 4 million books, news-
... she’s hustling, right? She’s sible clue and saw that it and manuscripts that pro- these were her writings. papers, periodicals, manu-
publishing a lot,” Chapnick was written about the time pose the discovery of a “Alcott scholars have had scripts and pamphlets is a
said on a visit to the Ameri- she would have been pub- new story by Louisa Alcott,” decades to compare her boon to researchers study-
can Antiquarian Society in lishing similar stories. The Eiselein, also a professor at work in different genres, ing early American history.
Worcester, a national re- story was also in the Olive Kansas State University, said and that background is Many of their holdings are
search library of pre-20th Branch, a newspaper that in an email interview. “Typi- going to help us evaluate salvaged from attics, an-
century American history had previously published cally, they turn out to be a these new findings,” she tique shops, book fairs, ga-
and culture that has some her work. known, though not famous, said in an email interview. rage sales.
of the stories Chapnick dis- As Chapnick searched text, or a story re-printed “She reworked and reused “We’re keeping these
covered in its collection as through newspapers at under a new title for a dif- names and situations and things for a reason. We’re
well as a first edition of “Lit- the society and the Bos- ferent newspaper or mag- details and expressions, not just keeping them to
tle Women.” ton Public Library, he found azine.” and we have a good, hoard them and pile them

Alcott remains best known more written by Gould But he has come to believe broad base from which to up,” Elizabeth Pope, the
for “Little Women,” pub- though he admits definitive that Chapnick has found begin considering these curator of books and digi-
lished in two installments in proof they were written by new stories, many of which new discoveries,” she said. tized collections at the so-
1868-69. Her classic com- Alcott’s has proven elusive. shed light on Alcott’s early “There’s also something dis- ciety. “We’re thrilled when
ing-of-age novel about the “There’s a lot of circum- career. tinctive about her writing people can find stories in
four March sisters Meg, Jo, stantial evidence to indi- “What stands out to me is voice, across genres.” them.”
Beth and Amy has been cate that this is probably the impressive range and This isn’t the first time that For Chapnick, the collec-
adapted several times into her,” said Chapnick, who variety of styles in Alcott’s scholars have found stories tions offer the possibility of
feature films, most recently last year published a paper early published works,” he written by Alcott under a finding additional Alcott
by Greta Gerwig in 2019. on his discoveries in J19, the said. pseudonym. stories including those
Chapnick discovered Al- Journal of Nineteenth-Cen- “She writes sentimental po- In the 1940s, Leona Rosten- written under other pseud-
cott’s other stories as part tury Americanists. “I don’t etry, thrilling supernatural berg and Madeleine Stern onyms.
of his research into spiritu- think that there’s definitive stories, reform-minded non- found thrillers written under “The detective work is fun.
alism and mesmerism. As evidence either way yet. fiction, work for children, the name A. M. Barnard The not knowing is kind of
he scrolled through digi- I’m interested in gathering work for adults, and more. was an Alcott pseudonym. fun. I both wish and don’t
tized newspapers from the more of it.” It’s also fascinating to see She also wrote nonfiction wish that there would be
American Antiquarian Soci- When first contacted by how Alcott uses, experi- stories, including about a smoking gun, if that
ety, he found a story titled Chapnick about the writ- ments with, and transforms the Civil War where she makes sense,” he said. “It
“The Phantom.” After see- ings, Gregory Eiselein, presi- the literary formulas popu- served as a nurse, under would be great to find out
ing the name Gould at the dent of the Louisa May Al- lar in the 1850s.” the pseudonym Tribulation one way or the other, but
end of the story, he initially cott Society, said he was Another Alcott scholar at Periwinkle. not knowing is also very
dismissed it as Alcott’s story. curious but skeptical. Kansas State, Anne Phil- It wasn’t unusual for female interesting.”q