Free Republic

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The author of “Little Women” may have been even more productive and sensational than previously thought. Max Chapnick, a postdoctoral teaching associate at Northeastern University, believes he found about 20 stories and poems written by Louisa May Alcott under her own name as well as pseudonyms for local newspapers in Massachusetts in the late 1850s and early 1860s. One of the pseudonyms is believed to be E. H. Gould, including a story about her house in Concord, Massachusetts, and a ghost story along the lines of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol.” He also found...

Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, may have been transgender, a New York Times (NYT) article claimed, drawing criticism from a political strategist who called it “historical vandalism.” Titled “Did the Mother of Young Adult Literature Identify as a Man,” the NYT piece claims the famous author may have been non-binary or transgender. Peyton Thomas, the author of the story, identifies as transgender and claims Alcott might also have even been transgender.

It’s a peculiar feature of our culture that men who behave in predictably masculine ways find themselves chastised and scolded for not being more feminine. This brings me to Little Women, which is not exactly packing in male ticket buyers. Why would it? No one expected women to turn up for Rambo: Last Blood, and no one seemed particularly interested in the male-female breakdown of the ticket sales for that one. Yet op-ed writers keep pitching versions of the same strange thesis, which is that we should be cross with men for not buying tickets to Little Women. “Dear men...

'Little Women' is so important and transcends each generation because it captures the differences between women — in personalities, desires, and fortunes. Greta Gerwig's rendition didn't quite cut it. “Little Women” is a timeless story that should make you cry. For goodness sake, Beth dies. The fact that I wasn’t a bit emotional watching the latest retelling of the classic story is quite concerning, and even more so, disappointing. Greta Gerwig’s new version left me completely devoid of feeling, although the story is full of it.In fact, two other recent adaptations — Clare Niederpruem’s modern adaptation of “Little Women” (2018)...

There are those who think Hallmark is "fascist propaganda," and there are others who think director Greta Gerwig's latest take on "Little Women" is "too white." "It’s time that classics that are constantly remade to better incorporate diversity,” Teen Vogue contributor Natalie de Vera Obedos writes in her new piece, "'Little Women,' Laurie, and the Argument for Racebent Casting." [snip] Obedos takes issue with the casting of four white actresses as the well-known sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, played by Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Eliza Scanlen, and Florence Pugh. But Obedos's main quarrel is with the male lead, Theodore...

The government is considering introducing internet filters, such as those used in China, in order to stop Icelanders downloading or viewing pornography on the internet. The unprecedented censorship is justified by fears about damaging effects of the internet on children and women. Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland's interior minister, is drafting legislation to stop the access of online pornographic images and videos by young people through computers, games consoles and smartphones. "We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has a very harmful effects on young people and can have a clear link...