I really wonder how Alcott’s real life youngest sister May felt about the portrayal of Amy. Fortunately this love triangle is not drawn from a real-life incident, but May really did have artistic ambitions, and she must have felt some kind of way about Louisa making Amy say, “talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing. I won’t be a common-place dauber, so I don’t intend to try any more.”

I've been reading along with interest, especially the comments, and I'd had no idea even that LW was based so heavily on Alcott's real life. And I'm SO CURIOUS now too.