Fruitlands

Fruitlands PDF Author: Richard Francis
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300169442
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
This is a definitive account of Fruitlands, one of history's most unsuccessful, but most significant, utopian experiments. It was established in Massachusetts in 1843 by Bronson Alcott (whose ten year old daughter Louisa May, future author of Little Women, was among the members) and an Englishman called Charles Lane, under the watchful gaze of Emerson, Thoreau, and other New England intellectuals. Alcott and Lane developed their own version of the doctrine known as Transcendentalism, hoping to transform society and redeem the environment through a strict regime of veganism and celibacy. But physical suffering and emotional conflict, particularly between Lane and Alcott's wife, Abigail, made the community unsustainable. Drawing on the letters and diaries of those involved, the author explores the relationship between the complex philosophical beliefs held by Alcott, Lane, and their fellow idealists and their day to day lives. The result is a vivid and often very funny narrative of their travails, demonstrating the dilemmas and conflicts inherent to any utopian experiment and shedding light on a fascinating period of American history.

Fruitlands

Fruitlands PDF Author: Richard Francis
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300169442
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 397

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a definitive account of Fruitlands, one of history's most unsuccessful, but most significant, utopian experiments. It was established in Massachusetts in 1843 by Bronson Alcott (whose ten year old daughter Louisa May, future author of Little Women, was among the members) and an Englishman called Charles Lane, under the watchful gaze of Emerson, Thoreau, and other New England intellectuals. Alcott and Lane developed their own version of the doctrine known as Transcendentalism, hoping to transform society and redeem the environment through a strict regime of veganism and celibacy. But physical suffering and emotional conflict, particularly between Lane and Alcott's wife, Abigail, made the community unsustainable. Drawing on the letters and diaries of those involved, the author explores the relationship between the complex philosophical beliefs held by Alcott, Lane, and their fellow idealists and their day to day lives. The result is a vivid and often very funny narrative of their travails, demonstrating the dilemmas and conflicts inherent to any utopian experiment and shedding light on a fascinating period of American history.

Fruitlands

Fruitlands PDF Author: Gloria Whelan
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061975818
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
We are all going to be made perfect . . . In 1843, with all their possessions loaded onto a single wagon, ten-year-old Louisa May Alcott and her family bravely set out into the wilderness to make a new home for themselves on a farm called Fruitlands. Louisa's father has a dream of living a perfect, simple life. It won't be easy, but the family has vowed to uphold his high ideals. In her diary -- one she shares with her parents -- Louisa records her efforts to become the girl her parents would like her to be. But in another, secret diary, she reveals the hardships of this new life, and pours out her real hopes and worries. Can Louisa live up to her father's expectations? Or will trying to be perfect tear the family apart?

Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands

Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands PDF Author: Clara Endicott Sears
Publisher: Applewood Books
ISBN: 155709957X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
In June of 1843, Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane, both reformers involved in the Transcendentalist movement, founded Fruitlands in an attempt to strengthen their spirituality through self-reliant, simple living. Joinmed by their families and about a dozen other individuals, the Con-Sociate family (as they called themselves) was to bring about a new Eden by cultivating a mystical and scetic way of life in a rural retreat. Compiling, in their own words, from letters, diaries, and books, and from the comments of friends and associates such as Emerson and Thoreau, Clara Endicott Sears, founder of Fruitlands Museum, tells the story of this famous encounter of transcendental philosophy with the realities of the New England soil and climate and the vagaries of human nature. Louisa May Alcott's classic satire based on her father's experiment, "Transcendental Wild Oats," completes the picture of a noble failure.

Transcendental Wild Oats and Excerpts from the Fruitlands Diary

Transcendental Wild Oats and Excerpts from the Fruitlands Diary PDF Author: Louisa May Alcott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
He set out to make his utopian dream come true-Bronson Alcott, his wife and four daughters, and an odd assortment of friends who knew more about philosophy than they did about farming. Would their experience at Fruitlands last through the hard New England winter? Transcendentalist commune is for readers of all ages who love Alcott, history, or just a good story told with humor and sensitivity.

Transcendental Utopias

Transcendental Utopias PDF Author: Richard Francis
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801473807
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
New England Transcendentalism was a vibrant and many-sided movement whose members are probably best remembered for their utopian experiments, their attempts to reconcile the contingent world of history with what they perceived as the stable and patterned world of nature. Richard Francis has written the first book to explore in detail the ideological basis of the three famous experiments during the 1840s: Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and Henry David Thoreau's "community of one" on the shores of Walden Pond.Francis suggests that at the heart of Transcendentalism was a belief that all phenomena are connected in a repetitive sequence. The task was to explain how human society could be reordered to benefit from this seriality. Some members of the movement believed in evolutionary progress, whereas others hoped to be the agents of a sudden millennial transformation. They differed, as well, in their views as to whether the fundamental social unit was the individual, the family, the phalanstery, or the community. The story of the three communities was, inevitably, also the story of particular individuals, and Francis highlights the lives and ideas of such leaders as George Ripley, W. H. Channing, Bronson Alcott, Charles Lane, and Theodore Parker. The consistent underlying beliefs of the New England Transcendentalists have exerted a powerful influence on American intellectual and cultural history ever since.

Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands

Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands PDF Author: Louisa May Alcott and Clara Endicott Sears
Publisher: Namaskar Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description


American Bloomsbury

American Bloomsbury PDF Author: Susan Cheever
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743264622
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
A portrait of five Concord, Massachusetts, writers whose works were at the center of mid-nineteenth-century American thought and literature evaluates their interconnected relationships, influence on each other's works, and complex beliefs.

The Forgotten Alcott

The Forgotten Alcott PDF Author: Azelina Flint
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000516423
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This collection is the first academic study of the captivating life and career of expatriate artist, writer, and activist, May Alcott Nieriker. Nieriker is known as the sister of Louisa May Alcott and model for "Amy March" in Alcott’s Little Women. As this book reveals, she was much more than "Amy"—she had a more significant impact on the Concord community than her sister and later became part of the creative expat community in Europe. There, she imbued her painting with the abolitionist activism she was exposed to in childhood and pursued an ideal of artistic genius that opposed her sister’s vision of self-sacrifice. Embarking on a career that took her across London, Paris, and Rome, Nieriker won the acclaim of John Ruskin and forged a network of expatriate female painters who changed the face of nineteenth-century art, creating opportunities for women that lasted well into the twentieth century. A "Renaissance woman," Nieriker was a travel writer, teacher, and curator. She is recovered here as a transdisciplinary subject who stands between disciplines, networks, and ideologies—stiving to recognize the dignity of others. Contributors include foundational Alcott scholar Daniel Shealy and Pulitzer Prize winner John Matteson, as well as Curators, Jan Turnquist (Orchard House) and Amanda Burdan (Brandywine River Museum of Art). In this book, readers will become acquainted with a dynamic feminist thinker who transforms our understanding of the place of women artists in the wider cultural and intellectual life of nineteenth-century Britain, France, and the United States.

Art Museums Plus

Art Museums Plus PDF Author: Traute M. Marshall
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 9781584656210
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
An engaging guide to over 150 art museums and more throughout New England

Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands

Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands PDF Author: Clara Endicott Sears
Publisher: Prabhat Prakashan
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands by Louisa May Alcott and Clara Endicott Sears: The Utopian Experiment of Fruitlands and the Alcott Family's Idealistic Pursuits: Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands, Louisa May Alcott and Clara Endicott Sears shed light on the remarkable utopian experiment undertaken by the Alcott family in Fruitlands. This insightful book provides a fascinating exploration of the family's idealistic pursuits, their commitment to a self-sufficient lifestyle, and the challenges they faced in their quest for a harmonious, idyllic existence. Key Aspects of the Book "Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands": Utopian Idealism: Delve into the vision and philosophy behind the Fruitlands experiment, where the Alcott family strived to create a utopian society rooted in simplicity, communal living, and ethical principles. Family Dynamics: Gain a deeper understanding of the Alcott family, particularly Bronson Alcott, the renowned philosopher, and his daughters, including Louisa May Alcott, who later achieved fame as an author. Challenges and Lessons: Explore the challenges faced by the Alcotts, from practical difficulties of self-sufficiency to philosophical conflicts, and discover the valuable lessons that emerged from their experiences. Louisa May Alcott, a beloved American author known for her novel "Little Women," and Clara Endicott Sears, an accomplished writer and historian, collaborated to bring to life the intriguing story of Fruitlands and the Alcott family's pursuit of a utopian ideal. Louisa May Alcott's personal connection to the Alcott family, coupled with Clara Endicott Sears' research and writing expertise, resulted in this captivating account of the Fruitlands experiment.