Laurie and Werther, Alcott's Love For German Romanticism

By Niina Niskanen

There are many similarities and differences between the arcs of Laurie in Little Women and Goethe's "sorrows of young werther." Both stories follow a young man's journey from innocence to experience and disillusionment, but the endings are vastly different. Watch as we compare and contrast the two arcs to see which is more tragic. One of Louisa May Alcott´s favourite writers was the German poet Goethe and Laurie´s character arc in Little Women is surprisingly similar to Goethe´s young hero, Werther. 

 

 

Here´s what listeners have said about the Little Women podcast: Melodie I love this podcast! The host knows more, digs deeper, and makes better connections than any other LMA/Little Women researcher I've seen. I would consider myself a big LMA/Little Women fan, and I'd say I know more about the two than the average person (or average fan even), but I always learn something new listening to this podcast. I'm the admin for "The Little Women Book Club" on Facebook, and our members all really love this podcast. If you're an LMA/Little Women fan you will love it, too!

 

rotten Tiger What a beautiful podcast! It's so insightful and entertaining. It understands the characters perfectly (especially Laurie), I love it

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little Women Podcast
• Release date: Feb 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224272396

Book preview

Laurie and Werther

Alcott's Love for german romanticism

Summary

One of Louisa May Alcott´s favourite writers was the German poet Goethe and Laurie´s character arc in Little Women is surprisingly similar to Goethe´s young hero, Werther. Join me in a discussion where we are decoding these two characters.

Copyright

Niina Niskanen 2022

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Laurie and Werther Little Women Podcast Transcript

Hello, Little Women fans. Welcome to the second season of the Little Women Podcast. I am very happy and excited about this season. There will be new episodes every Thursday for the next 12 weeks. Today's comment shoutout goes to Melodie. This is what she says.

"I wish instead of remaking Little Women into a story where Jo is

a spinster, they give us a movie about Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau.

I want to see that story. Maybe folks would then understand that Friedrich was the real price and maybe they could understand better that Louisa did not remain unmarried because she wished it. She needed a meeting of the minds and mutual respect sort of love. It is my experience that Jo and Laurie's shippers are usually folks who haven't read the book, or if they had it was when they were very young and it was still only as a companion to 1994. I love your comparison to the Notebook. I am always horrified when I hear that it is someone's idea of romance. It's so toxic and problematic to read Jo and Laurie as that. I think one of the beautiful things about Little Women, is the way it shows the difference between immature and mature love.".