1st Edition
The Matrilineal Heritage of Louisa May Alcott and Christina Rossetti
Introduction
Chapter 1 — "I am even I" Rossetti and Alcott Resisting Male Authority
Section I — "Left-handed Societies" Women’s Life Writing
Chapter 2 — "Renunciation is the law, devotion to God’s will the gospel" The empowerment of others in the Alcott women’s life-writing
Chapter 3 — "For every human creature may claim to strength" The Rossetti women’s elevation of the left hand
Section II — "A Loving League of Sisters" Alcott and Rossetti’s promotion of Christian values through the ties of sisterhood
Chapter 4 — We are all relative creatures The transformative power of sisterhood in Rossetti’s Maude
Chapter 5 — "Happy Women" Alcott’s sisterly utopia
Conclusion
Coda — Nineteenth-century women’s matrilineal theologies of renunciation
List of Works Cited
Appendix 1 — "Rolf Walden Emmerboy" Transcription
Appendix 2 — "Two Scenes in a Family" Transcription
Appendix 3 — "Wealth" Transcription
Appendix 4 — "Our Madonna" Transcription
Appendix 5 — "Story of An Apple" Transcription
Appendix 6 — "Hymn For Ascension Day" Transcription
Appendix 7 — "Extracts From Bradley’s Sermons" Transcription
Appendix 8 — "A Morning Hymn" Transcription
Appendix 9 — "The Maid of Sorrow" Transcription
Biography
Azelina Flint is a Teaching Fellow of American Literature and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s American Studies PhD program where she was awarded an AHRC ‘CHASE’ fellowship to support her research on Alcott and Rossetti. Azelina’s research on the Alcott family has been supported by the Fulbright Commission and she holds MA degrees in Victorian Studies and English Literature from Royal Holloway and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, respectively. Flint has published articles on Alcott and Rossetti in Comparative American Studies and the Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, while further research in American and Victorian Studies has appeared in a range of peer-reviewed publications.
