Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

A recognised classic of 19th century literature, 'The Awakening' caused a scandal on first publication for its powerful portrayal of one woman's fight for independence from the stultifying norms of wifedom and motherhood.

Women --- Louisiana --- Social life and customs --- American literature --- Fiction. --- Louisiana (Province) --- Louisiana (Territory) --- Louisiane --- État de Louisiane --- Léta de la Lwizyàn --- Lwizyàn --- State of Louisiana --- US-LA --- La. --- Louisianne --- Territory of Louisiana --- District of Louisiana --- Luisiana --- West Florida --- Territory of Orleans

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

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 from 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 spectrumof the fiction from her first published stories to her 1898 secret masterpiece, "The Storm."