TY - JOUR

T1 - A Marble Woman

T2 - Is the omen good or ill? Louisa May Alcott’s exposé of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s repressed individualism in her domestic horror fiction

AU - Flint, Azelina

PY - 2023/4/1

Y1 - 2023/4/1

N2 - This article reassesses the place of Louisa May Alcott’s pseudonymous domestic horror fiction in the wider canon of her work. Traditionally, Alcott’s domestic horror writing has been viewed as an expression of her repressed authorial individualism and desire for incorporation into a male literary tradition. Through examining Alcott’s allusions to Nathaniel Hawthorne, I argue that her domestic horror writing exposes the traumatic repercussions of male individualism for women in the work of her contemporaries. Her pseudonymous horror novella, A Marble Woman (1865), appropriates Hawthorne’s allusions to the Pygmalion myth in his earlier novel, The Marble Faun (1860), to demonstrate that the male artist’s preoccupation with a lifeless muse is contingent upon acts of psychological abuse. Alcott interrogates Hawthorne’s elevation of the female copyist to demonstrate that Hawthorne only endorses women’s art when it supports male traditions of creativity, thereby placing women in a subordinate role that stunts their creative power. In place of copyism, Alcott promotes an equal relationship between male and female artists that enables women to critique the work of men. Her domestic horror writing should therefore be read as satirical commentary on the elevation of male artists in the work of her contemporaries in the Concord circle.

AB - This article reassesses the place of Louisa May Alcott’s pseudonymous domestic horror fiction in the wider canon of her work. Traditionally, Alcott’s domestic horror writing has been viewed as an expression of her repressed authorial individualism and desire for incorporation into a male literary tradition. Through examining Alcott’s allusions to Nathaniel Hawthorne, I argue that her domestic horror writing exposes the traumatic repercussions of male individualism for women in the work of her contemporaries. Her pseudonymous horror novella, A Marble Woman (1865), appropriates Hawthorne’s allusions to the Pygmalion myth in his earlier novel, The Marble Faun (1860), to demonstrate that the male artist’s preoccupation with a lifeless muse is contingent upon acts of psychological abuse. Alcott interrogates Hawthorne’s elevation of the female copyist to demonstrate that Hawthorne only endorses women’s art when it supports male traditions of creativity, thereby placing women in a subordinate role that stunts their creative power. In place of copyism, Alcott promotes an equal relationship between male and female artists that enables women to critique the work of men. Her domestic horror writing should therefore be read as satirical commentary on the elevation of male artists in the work of her contemporaries in the Concord circle.

KW - Literature and Literary Theory

KW - Music

KW - Visual Arts and Performing Arts

U2 - 10.1386/host_00059_1

DO - 10.1386/host_00059_1

M3 - Journal article

VL - 14

SP - 9

EP - 27

JO - Horror Studies

JF - Horror Studies

SN - 2040-3275

IS - 1

ER -