Sign in
Read to Sleep
Books
Kids
Popular
Authors & Events
Gifts & Deals
Audio
Sign In
Look Inside | Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Nov 14, 2000 | ISBN 9780679783336 Buy
Nov 01, 2000 | ISBN 9780679641230 Buy
Also available from:
Available from:
Nov 14, 2000 | ISBN 9780679783336
Nov 01, 2000 | ISBN 9780679641230
Introduction by Kaye Gibbons Edited and with notes by Nina Baym Commentary by Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and from The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book The Awakening shocked turn-of-the-century readers with its forthright treatment of sex and suicide. Departing 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 life are the themes of this now-classic novel. As Kaye Gibbons points out in her Introduction, Chopin “was writing American realism before most Americans could bear to hear that they were living it.” This edition includes selected stories from Chopin’s Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie. Includes a Modern Library Reading Group Guide
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.
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,… More about Kate Chopin
"A Creole Bovary is this little novel of Miss Chopin’s."–Willa Cather
Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network
Stay in Touch
By clicking Sign Up, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
