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      Work: A Story of Experience

      by Louisa May Alcott
      Published
      Jan 1873
      Main Genre
      General Fiction General Fiction
      Rating
      Pages
      384
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      About This Book

      Published in 1873, this autobiographical novel has been called the adult Little Women. It follows the semi-autobiographical story of an orphan named Christie Devon, who, having turned twenty-one, announces "a new Declaration of Independence" and leaves her uncle's house in order to pursue economic self-sufficiency and to find fulfillment in her profession. Against the backdrop of the Civil War years, Christie works as a servant, actress, governess, companion, seamstress, and army nurse—all jobs that Alcott knew from personal experience—exposing the often insidious ways in which the employments conventionally available to women constrain their self-determination. Alcott's most overtly feminist novel, Work breaks new ground in the literary representation of women, as its heroine pushes at the boundaries of nineteenth-century expectations and assumptions. The novel is supplemented here with all the usual Library of America features, plus a conversation with editor Susan Cheever, and a reading group guide.

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

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      First Edition Jun 1994 Penguin ISBN 014039091X
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      Sep 2014 Createspace ISBN 1502362317
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      Dec 1976 Scholarly Press ISBN 0403058732
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      May 2001 Thorndike Press ISBN 0783894430
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