“M. M. appears and causes much guessing. It is praised and criticized, and I enjoy the fun, especially when friends say, 'I know you didn't write it, for you can't hide your peculiar style.”
-Alcott's journal entry, April 1877
“The unknown author – who, of whichever sex, writes in this instance with both the defects and the merits of a woman's pen – has given a new, fantastic dress to a world-old story.”
-Edward R. Burlingame
“We should judge, aften reading a hundred pages of this book, that it was written by a young person, probably a girl, with much literary facility and fluency, and an excellent grasp of plot, but with little experience of life . . . The language is stilted and dramatic sometimes, but never degenerates into slang or vulgarity. With advancing years and a larger experience the author may make her mark.”
-Godey's Lady's Book
“We have not much doubt that Julian Hawthorne is the author of A Modern Mephistopheles . . . The language is vigorous and clear, having a sculpturesque effect, and the sucession of periods and paragraphs is often so admirable that many pages together seem to be set to solemn rhythm.”
-The Atlantic Monthly
In 1876 Thomas Niles, the same partner of Roberts Brothers Publishing who suggested that Alcott write a novel for girls, had another great idea. A series of books published anonymously so that the public might have the fun of guessing the authors. The idea appealed to Alcott's sense of humor, and she was certainly no stranger to publishing under another name. For inspiration she turned to an old favorite, Goethe's Faust. Although she used the original title of A Long Fatal Love Chase for it, the two books are fairly different. ALFLC takes place in four countries, while AMM is set almost entirely in the one house.
In 1888 Alcott gave her publisher permission to reprint it with her name, along with "A Whisper in the Dark" to satisfy the curiosity of all the readers who wondered about Jo's sensation stories. The book came out posthumously.
Two epigraphs. One given to all the No Name Series - "Is the gentleman anonymous? Is he quite unknown?" from Daniel Deronda, ironic since so many of the authors were women. The other from Faust part 2 - “The Indescribable, Here it is done: The Woman-Soul leadeth us Upward and on!”
( Read more... )
-Alcott's journal entry, April 1877
“The unknown author – who, of whichever sex, writes in this instance with both the defects and the merits of a woman's pen – has given a new, fantastic dress to a world-old story.”
-Edward R. Burlingame
“We should judge, aften reading a hundred pages of this book, that it was written by a young person, probably a girl, with much literary facility and fluency, and an excellent grasp of plot, but with little experience of life . . . The language is stilted and dramatic sometimes, but never degenerates into slang or vulgarity. With advancing years and a larger experience the author may make her mark.”
-Godey's Lady's Book
“We have not much doubt that Julian Hawthorne is the author of A Modern Mephistopheles . . . The language is vigorous and clear, having a sculpturesque effect, and the sucession of periods and paragraphs is often so admirable that many pages together seem to be set to solemn rhythm.”
-The Atlantic Monthly
In 1876 Thomas Niles, the same partner of Roberts Brothers Publishing who suggested that Alcott write a novel for girls, had another great idea. A series of books published anonymously so that the public might have the fun of guessing the authors. The idea appealed to Alcott's sense of humor, and she was certainly no stranger to publishing under another name. For inspiration she turned to an old favorite, Goethe's Faust. Although she used the original title of A Long Fatal Love Chase for it, the two books are fairly different. ALFLC takes place in four countries, while AMM is set almost entirely in the one house.
In 1888 Alcott gave her publisher permission to reprint it with her name, along with "A Whisper in the Dark" to satisfy the curiosity of all the readers who wondered about Jo's sensation stories. The book came out posthumously.
Two epigraphs. One given to all the No Name Series - "Is the gentleman anonymous? Is he quite unknown?" from Daniel Deronda, ironic since so many of the authors were women. The other from Faust part 2 - “The Indescribable, Here it is done: The Woman-Soul leadeth us Upward and on!”
( Read more... )
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