A Marble Woman: Is the omen good or ill? Louisa May Alcott’s exposé of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s repressed individualism in her domestic horror fiction | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Horror Studies
  4. Volume 14, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 14, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2040-3275
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3283

Abstract

This article reassesses the place of Louisa May Alcott’s pseudonymous domestic horror fiction in the wider canon of her work. Traditionally, Alcott’s domestic horror writing has been viewed as an expression of her repressed authorial individualism and desire for incorporation into a male literary tradition. Through examining Alcott’s allusions to Nathaniel Hawthorne, I argue that her domestic horror writing exposes the traumatic repercussions of male individualism for women in the work of her contemporaries. Her pseudonymous horror novella, (1865), appropriates Hawthorne’s allusions to the Pygmalion myth in his earlier novel, (1860), to demonstrate that the male artist’s preoccupation with a lifeless muse is contingent upon acts of psychological abuse. Alcott interrogates Hawthorne’s elevation of the female copyist to demonstrate that Hawthorne only endorses women’s art when it supports male traditions of creativity, thereby placing women in a subordinate role that stunts their creative power. In place of copyism, Alcott promotes an equal relationship between male and female artists that enables women to critique the work of men. Her domestic horror writing should therefore be read as satirical commentary on the elevation of male artists in the work of her contemporaries in the Concord circle.

© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/host_00059_1
2023-05-24
2024-04-26
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alcott, L. M.. ( 1995;), ‘ A Marble Woman: Or, the mysterious model. ’, in M. B. Stern. (ed.), Louisa May Alcott Unmasked: Collected Thrillers, Boston, MA:: Northeastern University Press;, pp. 175–251.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Alcott, L. M.. ( 1997a), The Journals of Louisa May Alcott (ed. J. Myerson, and D. Shealy.), Athens, GA and London:: The University of Georgia Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Alcott, L. M.. ( 1997b;), ‘ Transcendental wild oats. ’, in E. Showalter. (ed.), Alternative Alcott, New Brunswick, NJ:: Rutgers University Press;, pp. 364–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Alcott, L. M.. ( 2005), Little Women; Little Men; Jo’s Boys (ed. E. Showalter.), New York:: Literary Classics of the US;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Arner, R. D.. ( 1972;), ‘ The legend of Pygmalion in “The Birth-Mark”. ’, American Transcendental Quarterly, 14:4, pp. 168–71.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Auerbach, N.. ( 1980;), ‘ The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. ’, Victorian Studies, 23:4, pp. 505–07, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3826834. Accessed 3 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Baym, N.. ( 1999;), ‘ Again and again, the scribbling women. ’, in J. L. Idol, and M. M. Ponder. (eds), Hawthorne and Women: Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition, Boston, MA:: University of Massachusetts Press;, pp. 20–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Baym, N.. ( 2005;), ‘ Revisiting Hawthorne’s feminism. ’, in M. Bell. (ed.), Hawthorne and the Real: Bicentennial Essays, Columbus, OH:: Ohio State University Press;, pp. 107–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bercovitch, S.. ( 1988;), ‘ The A-politics of ambiguity in The Scarlet Letter. ’, New Literary History, 19:3, pp. 629–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bernardi, D.. ( 1999;), ‘ “A bit sensational” or “simple and true”: Domestic horror and the politics of genre. ’, Legacy, 16:2, pp. 135–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Blow, S.. ( 1972;), ‘ Pre-Raphaelite allegory in The Marble Faun. ’, American Literature, 44:1, pp. 122–27.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Cheney, E. D.. ( 1888), Louisa May Alcott: The Children’s Friend, Boston, MA:: L. Prang;.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Danahay, M. A.. ( 1994;), ‘ Mirrors of masculine desire: Narcissus and Pygmalion in Victorian representation. ’, Victorian Poetry, 32:1, pp. 35–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Davis, O.. ( 1995;), ‘ Introduction. ’, in L. M. Alcott. (ed.), A Modern Mephistopheles, New York:: Bantam Books;, pp. v–xx.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Elbert, S.. ( 1999;), ‘ Introduction. ’, in L. M. Alcott. (ed.), Moods, New Brunswick, NJ:: Rutgers University Press;, pp. xi–xli.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Emerson, R. W.. ( 1855;), ‘ Woman. ’, American Transcendentalism Web, https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/woman.html. Accessed 3 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Emerson, R. W.. ( 1999;), ‘ Art. ’, in R. Poirier. (ed.), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 186–94.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Emmett, H.. ( 2007;), ‘ ‘Passion more than fraternal’: Towards a poetics and politics of sisterhood in the American novel, 1798–1987. ’, Ph.D. dissertation, Ithaca, NY:: Cornell University.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Estes, A. M., and Lant, K. M.. ( 1989;), ‘ Dismembering the text: The horror of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. ’, Children’s Literature, 17:1, pp. 98–123.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Fetterley, J.. ( 1983;), ‘ Impersonating “Little Women”: The radicalism of Alcott’s Behind a Mask. ’, Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 10:1, https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.1983.9978576.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Fite, K.. ( 2009;), ‘ The veiled, the masked, and the civil war woman: Louisa May Alcott and the madwoman allegory. ’, in A. R. Federico, and S. M. Gilbert. (eds), Gilbert & Gubar’s the Madwoman in the Attic after Thirty Years, Columbia, OH and London:: University of Missouri Press;, pp. 170–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Gilbert, S. M., and Gubar, S.. ( 2000), The Madwoman in the Attic, New Haven, CT:: Yale University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Giordano, P.. ( 2004;), ‘ Man’s self-reliance, woman’s self-denial: Alcott and Emerson’s contradictions. ’, in G. Mariana. (ed.), Emerson at 200: Proceedings of the International Bicentennial Conference, Rome, Italy, 16–18 October, Rome:: Aracne;, pp. 145–52.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Hawthorne, N.. ( 1851), The House of Seven Gables, Boston, MA:: Ticknor & Fields;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Hawthorne, N.. ( 1855), A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, Boston, MA:: Desmond Publishing;.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Hawthorne, N.. ( 1937), The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne (ed. N. H. Pearson.), New York:: Random House;.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Hawthorne, N.. ( 1987), Nathaniel Hawthorne: Selected Tales and Sketches (ed. M. J. Colacurcio.), London:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Hawthorne, N.. ( 2002), Selected Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne (ed. J. Myerson.), Columbus, OH:: Ohio State University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Hoeveler, D. L.. ( 1998), Gothic Feminism, University Park, PA:: Pennsylvania State University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Johnson, C. D.. ( 1998;), ‘ “Transcendental Wild Oats” or the cost of an idea. ’, American Transcendental Quarterly, 12:1, pp. 45–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Keck, M.. ( 2016;), ‘ Of marble women and sleeping nymphs: Louisa May Alcott’s A Modern Mephistopheles. ’, in B. Pestell,, P. Palazzolo, and L. Burnett. (eds), Translating Myth, Oxford:: Routledge;, pp. 156–72.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Kent, K. R.. ( 2003), Making Girls into Women: American Women’s Writing and the Rise of Lesbian Identity, London:: Duke Univerity Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Kern, S.. ( 1996), Eyes of Love: The Gaze in English and French Paintings and Novels, 1840–1900, London:: Reaktion Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Keyser, E. L.. ( 1995), Whispers in the Dark: The Fiction of Louisa May Alcott, Knoxville, TN:: University of Tennessee Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Kilgour, M.. ( 1995), The Rise of the Gothic Novel, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Mellor, A. K.. ( 2001;), ‘ Frankenstein, racial science, and the yellow peril. ’, Nineteenth Century Contexts, 23:1, https://doi.org/10.1080/08905490108583531.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Mills, A.. ( 2007;), ‘ “A motley load”: Reweighing humor’s burden in Louisa May Alcott’s “Transcendental Wild Oats”. ’, Studies in American Humor, 16, pp. 5–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Petrulionis, S. H.. ( 1995;), ‘ By the light of her mother’s lamp: Woman’s work versus man’s philosophy in Louisa May Alcott’s “Transcendental Wild Oats”. ’, Studies in the American Renaissance, pp. 69–81, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30227668. Accessed 6 November 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Poovey, M.. ( 1984), The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer: Ideology as Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen, Chicago, IL:: University of Chicago Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Rioux, A. B.. ( 2018), Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters, New York:: Norton;.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Ross, C. L.. ( 2005;), ‘ Louisa May Alcott’s (con)temporary periodical fiction: The thrillers live on. ’, Journal of Popular Culture, 38:5, pp. 911–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Sahmadi, L.. ( 2016;), ‘ Writing for kids: Hawthorne’s grandfather impersonated. ’, American Literature Association 27th Annual Conference, Hyatt Regency, San Francisco, 26–29 May, e-mail from author, 21 July 2017 .
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Saxton, M.. ( 1977), Louisa May: A Biography of Louisa May Alcott, London:: Andre Deutsch;.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Scull, A.. ( 2009), Hysteria: The Disturbing History, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Seelinger Trites, R.. ( 1999;), ‘ “Queer performances”: Lesbian politics. ’, in J. M. Alberghene, and B. L. Clark. (eds), Little Women and the Feminist Imagination: Criticism, Controversy, Personal Essays, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 139–61.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Showalter, E.. ( 1987), The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830–1980, London:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Showalter, E.. ( 1997;), ‘ Introduction. ’, in E. Showalter. (ed.), Alternative Alcott, New Brunswick, NJ:: Rutgers University Press;, pp. ix–xliv.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Stern, M. B.. ( 1975;), ‘ Introduction. ’, in M. B. Stern. (ed.), Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott, New York:: Quill;, pp. vii–xxxiii.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Stern, M. B.. ( 1995;), ‘ Introduction. ’, in M. B. Stern. (ed.), Louisa May Alcott Unmasked: Collected Thrillers, Boston, MA:: Northeastern University Press;, pp. ix–xxix.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Wallace, J. D.. ( 1990;), ‘ Hawthorne and the scribbling women reconsidered. ’, American Literature, 62:2, pp. 201–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Wallace, D.. ( 2013), Female Gothic Histories: Gender, History and the Gothic, Cardiff:: University of Wales Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Yeates, A.. ( 2017;), ‘ Poetic narrative in William Morris’ and Edward Burne-Jones’ Pygmalion project. ’, in S. Andres, and B. Donnelly. (eds), Poetry in Pre-Raphaelite Painting: Transcending Boundaries, New York:: Peter Lang;, pp. 107–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Flint, Azelina. ( 2023;), ‘ A Marble Woman: Is the omen good or ill? Louisa May Alcott’s exposé of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s repressed individualism in her domestic horror fiction. ’, Horror Studies, 14:1, pp. 9–27, https://doi.org/10.1386/host_00059_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/host_00059_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): copyism; Emerson; Galatea; Little Women; muse; pseudonymous; psyche; Pygmalion

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error