LMA was obviously sympathetic with her mother's plight - basically running the daily chores and making sure her children didn't suffer from the experi The first thing that struck me was the absolutely snarky tone of the story. LMA was obviously sympathetic with her mother's plight - basically running the daily chores and making sure her children didn't suffer from the experience. I loved the little slights against the rather useless at least from a practical perspective men that were worked into the narrative.
It amazes me that LMA had such a high opinion of her father, despite his total impracticality and inability to be an effective breadwinner for the family. Had it not been for LMA, they would have been in extremely dire straits. It definitely shows in Transcendental Wild Oats that she loved him and respected his motivations, though they often made the family suffer.
Charles Lane, on the other hand, is clearly not someone LMA respected or admired. I have to say that I don't particularly care for him either! View 1 comment. The edition I read had an introduction written by a historian from the midth-century that was totally outdated and incorrect, so skip the introduction by Harrison if you get that edition.
I felt there were nuances in it that intrigued me, and I noticed that despi The edition I read had an introduction written by a historian from the midth-century that was totally outdated and incorrect, so skip the introduction by Harrison if you get that edition. The bits from her diary give hints to her personality and life at Fruitlands as well. May 09, Marshall Wayne Lee rated it liked it Shelves: utopian.
Alcott's piece gets three stars from me. For me what was lacking is the narrative style. She does lots of telling and summarizing. Thats the negative. The positive. I thought Alcott's piece was at times witty, while at others profound with insights into the human condition sorry to be so pretentious. The story is about an attempted commune of religious people some who have given up everything they had to join the commune.
Yet, it seems that careful planning wasn't one of the skill sets. A short Alcott's piece gets three stars from me. A short read and worth the time. Mar 05, Marissa rated it really liked it. A hilarious title that made more sense once I knew the context. Alcott writes with such a comic bent, and many of her observations hold true today. Louisa May Alcott's slightly fictionalized account of her father's failed utopian experiment, Fruitlands, is a helpful way to round out her peripatetic childhood.
Having read a biography or two, I was well-acquainted with the negligible aspects of transcendentalism. For anyone with a loved one who is prone to wild lifestyle experiments, despising practicalities, I'm sure Transcendental Wild Oats will ring true. See: going vegan in the s and somehow practicing animal cruelty , "no beast of bur Louisa May Alcott's slightly fictionalized account of her father's failed utopian experiment, Fruitlands, is a helpful way to round out her peripatetic childhood.
See: going vegan in the s and somehow practicing animal cruelty , "no beast of burden Alcott's narrative voice is incredibly distant. If you didn't know she grew up in the community around the age of in the 6-month experiment , you'd hardly know she had lived the story. I have no high opinion of Bronson Alcott, and I imagine many readers would respond to his antics like his real friends did: by waiting until his high-flown ideals fell to a lower sphere.
However, Abba Alcott and the four daughters are the ones who suffered in the meantime. Sep 29, Erin rated it it was ok Shelves: fiction , non-fiction , essays , biography. My copy of this book included Transcendental Wild Oats, with selected diarys and letters from the period.
What really disappointed me wasn't any of the period material, it was the introduction in which the editor indicated that Alcott misrepresented her father in the story, and degraded her as unable to understand his greatness since she was simply an author of storybooks for girls. The editor blithely ignores that fact that Alcott's story incorporates pieces of her father's letters almost verba My copy of this book included Transcendental Wild Oats, with selected diarys and letters from the period.
The editor blithely ignores that fact that Alcott's story incorporates pieces of her father's letters almost verbatim, just as he ignores the fact that she is one of the most widely read authors the United States has ever produced. If anything, she seems restrained in casting blame in this story, and I saw little of the comedy the editor referred to in such disparaging tones.
I was lucky enough to visit Fruitlands last year and so reading this was a shear delight as it brought back the landscape and the buildings quite vividly. I found this book to be utterly charming, quite amusing and imagine it's quite true to the experience.
Despite the nervous introduction by the former head of Fruitlands; there's not doubt in my mind that Bronson Alcott could I was lucky enough to visit Fruitlands last year and so reading this was a shear delight as it brought back the landscape and the buildings quite vividly. Despite the nervous introduction by the former head of Fruitlands; there's not doubt in my mind that Bronson Alcott could have taken to his bed at the dissolution of the community and that Mrs Alcott was truly the only adult on the scene.
May 09, Marshall rated it liked it. Alcott's "Transcendental Wild Oats" gets three stars from me. This short story has some interesting points and would serve as a good text for a class.
They could discuss Alcott's perceptive observations and such. It seems to me, that while this isn't a cult, Alcott certainly understood what one is, and luckily, describes a failed one. What this place needs is a leader to focus their attention on and get people working--but how glad it is for them that they don't have one.
A good read. An interesting read for anyone interested in the story of the Fruitlands experiment. Fun too that it was written by re-known author Louisa May Alcott who was also a participant at age 10, plus is chronicles her own family! This version, assembled by the Fruitlands Museum, includes a background introduction plus other diary entries and letters to put the story in context.
This edition contains an introduction about Transcendentalism, Louisa May Alcott journal entries, and the text of Transcendental Wild Oats a humorous and rather uplifting view of the doomed utopian community Fruitlands , and several letters written by the Charles Lane and Brownson Alcott the founders of the Fruitlands. In this short satirical piece, Alcott pokes fun at her father's philosophical ideas and their failed real-life application while showing the great burden they put upon her mother.
This edition also includes some of the few surviving pages from the diary Alcott kept during the Fruitlands experiment in she was and two contemporary letters by Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane. Louisa May Alcott's fictionalized account of life at Fruitlands, a Transcendentalist social experiment in the s. Short, witty, almost satirical, and a good glimpse into the beginning and ending of a utopia gone wrong. From Conversations with Children.
From Christian Nurture. From Equality before the Law. Inaugural Address. The Function of a University. Sex Education. Letter to His Wife. Letters concerning Brook Farm. Argument before the Supreme Court in the Amistad Case. Speech in the United States Senate. From Three Sermons. Battle—Hymn of the Republic.
Natural Law. Broadcast Address. The Green Fields of the Mind. Examination of Susanna Martin. Front Eulogy on King Philip. From My Bondage and My Freedom. The Jewish Cemetery at Newport. From The Promised Land. From The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti. Journal Letters. From Boston Adventure. The Lottery. For the Union Dead. From The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Her Kind. From Death at an Early Age. Then Sister Hope gathered her forces. Charles Lane joined a Shaker colony. Bronson Alcott was devastated. Recalling his pain, Louisa May drops her satirical tone and reflects on how unforgiving conventional society can be.
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