Only a few more sleeps until Christmas (Eve!) (When the newsletter starts!) (Wow!)
As promised, I’ll use this time to 1. Promote the newsletter and encourage you to share with your friends and 2. Chat about what we’ll encounter in the first chapter of this project.
In the new year I’ll be releasing some subscriber-only content (book reviews, lists, etc.) so now’s the time to get onboard so you don’t miss any delicious thoughts.
Without further ado…
As we venture through these first few pages, I invite you to put yourself in the tiny, rickets-filled shoes of an 1800s reader as you experience them. What would your relationship to the idea of women be? Are they real to you? What would you do if women happened to you?
The version of the book that I’m working with is a cheapo Penguin Classics version of the edition released in 1989, with an introduction by Elaine Showalter and notes by Siobhan Kilfeather and Vinca Showalter. Showalter specifically points out that her version of the text is the closest to the original, noting that in 1880 Alcott did revisions to please the publisher. Showalter elected to REVERT these changes. Get their ass, Elaine!
There are footnotes through this book that I think are fairly common to most editions folks have on our shelves. These show up early in the first chapter because - and you’ll come to know this - Jo will not shut the fuck up about anything. I’ll include pertinent info from these notes as they come up.
So! Our first chapter begins!
“Playing Pilgrims” is a single-location domestic scene that sets up our main interpersonal relationships. The girls wait by the fire for Mrs. March to come home from making money, practice a play Jo wrote, welcome their mother home, and cry when she reads a letter from their father. Cold! Massachusetts! Petticoats! A tight 10 pages! Who could ask for anything more?
Things To Look Out For In Future Pages:
Christmas tidings!
Jo’s problematic German fixation
A dusting of patriotism
Father sucking shit from 1100 miles away
So, with a twice-a-week cadence, we’ll get to the end of the chapter in what, a little over a month? Or maybe I’ll up the frequency if people don’t think it’s annoying? Who knows!? But before I leave you, let’s do the first summary of many!
PRE-CHAPTER CHECK-IN
Pages Completed: 0
Characters Mentioned: 0
Total Death Poll Votes Cast: 16
Current Death Poll Standings: Amy and Meg, neck and neck!
We will take these findings with us, as we venture to our first page! See you Christmas Eve, my dears!
LAUNCHING WEDNESDAY!