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The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin

Author Kate Chopin
Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon
Mass Market Paperback
$4.95 US
| $5.50 CAN
Berkley / NAL | Signet
On sale Apr 01, 1976 | 352 Pages | 9780451524485
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
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“Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.”
 
Kate Chopin was enjoying wide popularity as a writer, mainly of short stories, when her second novel, The Awakening, was published to widespread criticism of its immorality. A wake-up call to women all over the country, this landmark novel of early American feminism tells of a Louisiana wife who discovers the strength of her own sexuality and tries to wrench it from the hands of a patriarchal society. And just as Edna Pontellier is ostracized for trying to master her own sexual fate, so did Chopin’s reputation suffer after she wrote this book. Today The Awakening is considered a masterpiece and, along with Chopin’s short stories, has set a standard for younger generations of women who have learned to value their independence and authenticity.

Edited and with an Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon
“Flexible, iridescent style.”—Willa Cather

“As pertinent as any fiction this year or last. It is uncanny, nothing else.”—The New York Times

Kate Chopin (1851-1904) did not begin to write until she was thirty-six years old. Up to that time, her life gave no hint of either literary talent or literary ambition. Yet after the publication of her first stories in 1889, she enjoyed ten years of a productive, serious, and fairly successful career. Her first novel, At Fault (1890), had difficulty finding a publisher, so she brought it out at her own expense and sent review copies to important journals. Her short stories—close to a hundred of them—were published for the most part in prestigious national magazines. They gave her a solid reputation as a gifted 'local color' writer—that is, an author specializing in the depiction of a particular region of the country and its inhabitants. From these many stories, she culled two well-reviewed collections: Bayou Folk in 1894 and A Night in Acadie in 1897. The Awakening, now her best-known work, appeared in 1899.

Critics of Chopin's own day disapproved of the sexual frankness of The Awakening and were especially disturbed by the narrator's neutrality toward the unconventional behavior of Edna Pontellier, the heroine. All reviews of the novel were unfavorable. Soon after this setback, a planned third collection of short stories was rejected by a publisher, and Kate Chopin essentially ceased to write. In poor health, she died some five years after The Awakening appeared. She was only fifty-three. View titles by Kate Chopin

Educator Guide for The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

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Edited and with an Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon

Introduction
A Note on the Text
Chronology
Selected Bibliography

The Awakening
Wiser Than a God
A Point at Issue!
A Shameful Affair
Miss McEnders
At the 'Cadian Ball
Désirée's Baby
Madame Celestin's Divorce
A Lady of Bayou St. John
La Belle Zoraïde
A Respectable Woman
The Story of an Hour
Regret
The Kiss
Athénïse
A Pair of Silk Stockings
The Storm
Charlie

About

“Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.”
 
Kate Chopin was enjoying wide popularity as a writer, mainly of short stories, when her second novel, The Awakening, was published to widespread criticism of its immorality. A wake-up call to women all over the country, this landmark novel of early American feminism tells of a Louisiana wife who discovers the strength of her own sexuality and tries to wrench it from the hands of a patriarchal society. And just as Edna Pontellier is ostracized for trying to master her own sexual fate, so did Chopin’s reputation suffer after she wrote this book. Today The Awakening is considered a masterpiece and, along with Chopin’s short stories, has set a standard for younger generations of women who have learned to value their independence and authenticity.

Edited and with an Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon

Reviews

“Flexible, iridescent style.”—Willa Cather

“As pertinent as any fiction this year or last. It is uncanny, nothing else.”—The New York Times

Author


Kate Chopin (1851-1904) did not begin to write until she was thirty-six years old. Up to that time, her life gave no hint of either literary talent or literary ambition. Yet after the publication of her first stories in 1889, she enjoyed ten years of a productive, serious, and fairly successful career. Her first novel, At Fault (1890), had difficulty finding a publisher, so she brought it out at her own expense and sent review copies to important journals. Her short stories—close to a hundred of them—were published for the most part in prestigious national magazines. They gave her a solid reputation as a gifted 'local color' writer—that is, an author specializing in the depiction of a particular region of the country and its inhabitants. From these many stories, she culled two well-reviewed collections: Bayou Folk in 1894 and A Night in Acadie in 1897. The Awakening, now her best-known work, appeared in 1899.

Critics of Chopin's own day disapproved of the sexual frankness of The Awakening and were especially disturbed by the narrator's neutrality toward the unconventional behavior of Edna Pontellier, the heroine. All reviews of the novel were unfavorable. Soon after this setback, a planned third collection of short stories was rejected by a publisher, and Kate Chopin essentially ceased to write. In poor health, she died some five years after The Awakening appeared. She was only fifty-three. View titles by Kate Chopin

Guides

Educator Guide for The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

Read More

Table of Contents

Edited and with an Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon

Introduction
A Note on the Text
Chronology
Selected Bibliography

The Awakening
Wiser Than a God
A Point at Issue!
A Shameful Affair
Miss McEnders
At the 'Cadian Ball
Désirée's Baby
Madame Celestin's Divorce
A Lady of Bayou St. John
La Belle Zoraïde
A Respectable Woman
The Story of an Hour
Regret
The Kiss
Athénïse
A Pair of Silk Stockings
The Storm
Charlie

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