Fruitlands : The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia

by Richard Francis

• ISBN13: 9780300140415
• ISBN10: 030014041X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2010-11-02
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This is the first 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 ofLittle 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, Richard Francis 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.

Author Biography

Richard Francis has taught at universities on both sides of the Atlantic and has previously written on Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, and on the Salem witch trials. He is also a novelist.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
The Seed
To Reproduce Perfect Men	p. 15
Now I Know What Thought Is	p. 32
A Joy in a Winding Sheet	p. 46
Fabling of Worlds	p. 69
Rembrandt's Pot	p. 84
The Fruit
Hesitations at the Plunge	p. 97
The Mind Yields, Falters, and Fails	p. 107
The Little Wicket Gate	p. 117
The Principle of Inverse Ratio	p. 137
Diffusive Illimitable Benevolence	p. 155
The New Waves Curl	p. 173
Utter Subjection of the Body	p. 185
The Consociate Family Life	p. 199
Penniless Pilgrimages	p. 211
Softly Doth the Sun Descend	p. 227
Nectar in a Sieve	p. 240
Cain and Abel	p. 253
Tumbledown Hall	p. 269
Conclusion	p. 278
Notes	p. 284
Sources	p. 303
Index	p. 311
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