Jo Marries Goethe Audiobook (Little Women Origins) Study Materials

Louisa May Alcott´s favourite writer was the German poet Goethe and not only did Louisa use Goethe´s plot devices in her novels such as Little Women, but Goethe also seemed to have been one of the main models for professor Bhaer´s character. LMAwas actually born into the first American town that was settled by German immigrants in 1683. This was Germantown in Pennsylvania. Louisa was born at a time when Americans started to consume German literature and there was somewhat of a "German epidemic" in New England. This was also the time when American universities started to include German books in their collections and many of these educational reformers were transcendentalists, like the Alcotts.

Learn the origins of Little Women and how Alcott's love for German literature inspired the beloved story.