Product Description

'She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.' Kate Chopin was one of the most individual and adventurous of nineteenth-century american writers, whose fiction explored new and often startling territory. When her most famous story, The Awakening, was first published in 1899, it stunned readers with its frank portrayal of the inner word of Edna Pontellier, and its daring criticisms of the limits of marriage and motherhood. The subtle beauty of her writing was contrasted with her unwomanly and sordid subject-matter: Edna's rejection of her domestic role, and her passionate quest for spiritual, sexual, and artistic freedom. From her first stories, Chopin was interested in independent characters who challenged convention. This selection, freshly edited form the first printing of each text, enables readers to follow her unfolding career as she experimented with a broad range of writing, from tales for children to decadent fin-de siecle sketches. The Awakening is set alongside thirty-two short stories, illustrating the spectrum of the fiction from her first published stories to her 1898 secret masterpiece, 'The Storm'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #142544 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Customer Reviews

Mixed reaction
This is a well structured collection of short stories. Personally, I do not find 'The Awakening' to be the best of these. Yet, others, such as 'The Christ Light' are fantastic tales, short, yet with an often powerful moral subtext. Chopin creates dream-like landscapes and uses descriptions of local colour and language to re-create an image in the heads of the readers.

Excellent!
I studied The Awakening' at uni and loved it! Chopin's work is beautiful and she deserves more credit in the literary world!

Mixed reaction
This is a well structured collection of short stories. Personally, I do not find 'The Awakening' to be the best of these. Yet, others, such as 'The Christ Light' are fantastic tales, short, yet with an often powerful moral subtext. Chopin creates dream-like landscapes and uses descriptions of local colour and language to re-create an image in the heads of the readers.