American Studies (미국학)

Seoul National University American Studies Institute (서울대학교 미국학연구소)
권호 표지

Transnational Allegories of Image and Likeness in Louisa May Alcott's "Behind a Mask, or A Woman's Power"

  • Received : 2020.06.12
  • Accepted : 2020.07.03
  • Published : 2020.06.30

⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

"Behind a Mask" (1866) marks the new direction of Louisa May Alcott's artistic and personal life. Her European trip solidified her identity as a mature woman, most importantly as a mature American woman, one whose independence from Victorian stereotypes would, from now on, make her fortune and fame. Her sensational stories, especially "Behind a Mask," would tell truths that readers recognized but had rarely seen written. These truths would free them, and the author herself, to explore their talents as individuals. Henceforth, Alcott would embody the successful American artistic entrepreneur as one who shed the European domination of false titles and inherited wealth. These motifs of the transnational connection pervade the story, in the form of images and likenesses. Just as Alcott would soon, in two years, reach astonishing financial success with the publication of Little Women, her meteoric ascent parallels America's rise to power in the world's economy, which came about with almost alarming speed after the conclusion of the American Civil War.

Keywords

References

  1. Alcott, Louisa May. Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. Ed. Madeleine Stern. New York: Perennial, 2004.
  2. Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Ed. Anne K. Phillips and Gregory Eiselein. New York: Norton, 2004.
  3. Day, William Patrick. In the Circles of Fear and Desire: A Study of Gothic Fantasy. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1985.
  4. Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. 1855. New Haven: Yale UP, 2014.
  5. Fetterly, Judith. "Impersonating 'Little Women': The Radicalism of Alcott's Behind a Mask." Women's Studies 10.1 (1983): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.1983.9978576
  6. Fite, Karen. "The Veiled, the Masked, and the Civil War Woman: Louisa May Alcott and the Madwoman Allegory." Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic after 30 Years. Ed. Annette R. Federico. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2009. 170-82.
  7. Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
  8. Fraser, Hamish. "Review of The New Penguin History of Scotland: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day." Reviews in History. Institute of Historical Research. Mar. 2002. Web. 22 Apr. 2019.
  9. Goddu, Teresa. Gothic America: Narrative, History and Nation. New York: Columbia UP, 1997.
  10. Hassan, Narin. "Botanical Brews: Tea, Consumption, and the Exotic in Braddon's 'Lady Audley's Secret' and Alcott's 'Behind a Mask.'" Transatlantic Sensations. Ed. Jennifer Phegley, John Cyril Barton, and Kristin N. Huston. Burlington: Ashgate, 2012. 207-19.
  11. Schewe, Elizabeth. "Domestic Conspiracy: Class conflict and Performance in Louisa May Alcott's 'Behind a Mask.'" American Transcendental Quarterly 22.4 (2008): 577-92.
  12. Showalter, Elaine. "Introduction." Alternative Alcott. Ed. Elaine Showalter. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1995. ix-xliii.
  13. Sofer, Naomi Z. Making the America of Art: Cultural Nationalism and Nineteenth Century Women. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2005.
  14. Stern, Madeleine B. "Introduction." Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. Ed. Madeleine B. Stern. New York: Perennial, 2004. vii-xxviii.
  15. Traub, Lindsey. "Negotiating Visibility: Louisa May Alcott's Narrative Experiments." Becoming Visible: Women's Presence in Late Nineteenth Century America. Ed. Janet Floyd, et al. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010. 153-75.