SOURCE: "The Domestic Drama of Louisa May Alcott," in Feminist Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2, Summer, 1984, pp. 233-54.
In the following essay, a version of which was presented at the National Women's Studies Association Conference in May, 1980, Halttunen examines the role of the "parlor theatrical" in Alcott's fiction, noting that the popularity of this dramatic form reflected idealized conceptions of the role of the family during the Victorian era.
