The Awakening, and Selected Stories - Softcover

Chopin, Kate

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140390227 ISBN 13: 9780140390223

Publisher: Penguin Group, 1984

Synopsis

The Awakening shocked turn-of-the-century readers and reviewers with its treatment of sex and suicide. In a departure from literary convention, Kate Chopin failed to condemn her heroine's desire for an affair with the son of a Louisiana resort owner, whom she meets on vacation. The power of sensuality, the delusion of ecstatic love, and the solitude that accompanies the trappings of middle- and upper-class convention are the themes of this now-classic novel. The book was influenced by French writers ranging from Flaubert to Maupassant, and can be seen as a precursor of the impressionistic, mood-driven novels of Virginia Woolf and Djuna Barnes. Variously called "vulgar, " "unhealthily introspective, " and "morbid, " the book was neglected for several decades, not least because it was written by a "regional" woman writer. This edition also includes selected stories from Kate Chopin's Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, and an introduction and notes by Nina Baym.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"A Creole Bovary is this little novel of Miss Chopin's."
--Willa Cather

About the Author:

Katherine O'Flaherty (1850-1904), known by her married name Kate Chopin, was an American author of short stories and novels. In 1899, her second novel, The Awakening, was published to much outrage and harsh criticism based upon moral, rather than literary, standards.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0140390227
• ISBN 13: 9780140390223
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288