“The Amber Amulet” by Louisa May Alcott: An Unpublished Revision and the Author’s Farewell

Abstract

This introduction to Louisa May Alcott’s unpublished manuscript “The Amber Amulet” explores the genesis of this unpublished novella, a substantial revision of a work that previously appeared in 1870 in the form of the short story “La Belle Bayadère.” It reconstructs the contexts in which this Indian tale was revised, the author’s debt to Jules Verne’s fiction, and her semi-autobiographical portrait as a celebrity of the Victorian stage.