The Awakening and Selected Stories (The Penguin American Library)

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Edited and with an Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon and with a New Afterword by Roxane Gay. Kate Chopin 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 ,… More about Kate Chopin.


  • Bonds of Darkness;
  • More Than a Memory.
  • Seeing Life: Poems of Empowerment and Self-Confidence?
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It is uncanny, nothing else. Fiction Classics Literary Fiction. Buy the Mass Market Paperback: Also by Kate Chopin. About Kate Chopin Kate Chopin did not begin to write until she was thirty-six years old. Inspired by Your Browsing History. Maybe I'm being naive about this for the time period, maybe not. She could have stayed with her husband and had a friendship marriage with no physical involvement and painted. Even carried on her affairs as long as she was discreet.

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She had some choices. A lot of women, a lot of people don't. I just didn't buy the option that she took. I think she was a drama queen. Sorry, I just didn't have much sympathy for this woman. I'd love to read Kate Chopin's other stories because she sounds like a phenomenal women. I hope that her other female characters have a maturity that Edna lacked.

View all 4 comments. I loved it from start to finish, loved it up, down, and sideways, loved it in a house, with a mouse, etc. But just as enjoyable, and just as worthy of your time, is Chopin's short fiction, a few representatives of which are included in this Penguin Classics edition. I kept the book on my "to-read" list for an extra month hoping I would find the time to return to and finish the last three of these stories, but it seems the stars have other plans in mind for my reading time, at least until the end of the semester.

One of my new favorites. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have to put this out there straight off; objectively this is a quite good book, a classic, and I have seen many other people like it. I cannot tell anyone not to read it, and, in fact, the writing style though very much of its time is clear and easy and well-crafted.

Chopin knows her job as a writer, and does it decently, though perhaps, in my opinion only, she is not as fabulous as others make her out to be. On the other hand, my personal prejudice plays a great part in the rating of this boo I have to put this out there straight off; objectively this is a quite good book, a classic, and I have seen many other people like it.

On the other hand, my personal prejudice plays a great part in the rating of this book. I have never been able to understand that brand of Feminism though I consider myself a Feminist, with full honours, I hope that said women should, as a reaction to their oppression, become petty, thoughtless egotists, abandon everything, and do what they want, or else there is no point to their lives. Edna is exactly that sort of character, and though I can't say for sure whether the author condemns or approves of her though I think the latter I know that the text is considered a classic cornerstone of feminism, and that genuinely bothers me.

Edna is not a wholly reprehensible person, of course, nonetheless, her basic attitude, which is made legitimate in the book, is "screw everyone, I'll do what I want". Her husband is certainly not a supportive, nice man, whom she could love, but he is not abusive or dreadfully oppressive, even for the times, and he deserves a modicum of respect, which she fails to give him.

Her children, too, are to be pitied. Her life at the last, and her suicide, are all done with that complete throwing-off of responsibility that, I think, has no place in feminism, just as it has no place in any other movement or set of human relations. I can't approve it, condone it, or rate it higher than I did. Feb 07, Molliegordon rated it liked it. I enjoyed this book. I read it in 3 days, over a weekend, and while I rushed the ending, I was engaged by it. What I found so important about this book is that it was written in a style where I felt I understood the main character's inner process.

I enjoyed the limited dialogue with an emphasis on description, even during conversations. However, I felt that there was only one main character, Edna, and all the other characters reflected her setting. The ending which I will not spoil was particu I enjoyed this book. The ending which I will not spoil was particularly troublesome, but very indicative of the time.

Our attitudes towards the issues in this book have changed in the past years, so it is particularly interesting to view it as a window to another culture as well as literature of and by a woman. What I appreciate is that it was written at the end of the 19th century, by an American, and it's only purpose was to express itself. I felt no Feminist Agenda as we have come to know the Feminist Canon, and I appreciate it for what it was. It was a woman doing her best to express the natural process of awakening that is unique to women.

Again, a window into the culture of the time. I recommend it, and I look forward to reading it again. A very touching novel, I loved it. Ik vond het een prachtig boekje en Edna een ontroerende vrouw. De sfeertekeningen zijn erg mooi. Het warme strand, de zon, de strandhuisjes, de zee, het vrolijke gezelschap op het eiland, de muziekavondjes. Het leven is mooi. Er is geen sprake van de naargeestigheid en donkere atmosfeer zoals die naar voren komt in Madame Bovary.

Ik vind het daarom onterecht dat dit boek met Madame Bovary wordt vergeleken. Edna wil oprecht haar eigen vrijheid en ze wil met rust gelaten worden. Zij heeft daar gee Ik vond het een prachtig boekje en Edna een ontroerende vrouw. Zij heeft daar geen achterbakse motivatie bij zoals Mdm Bovary. Kate Chopin maakt vaak gebruik van zware symboliek en metamorfosen. De metamorfose van Edna van een conventionele huisvrouw naar een vrije geest vindt plotseling plaats. Op het moment dat Edna voor het eerst zonder hulp weg zwemt in zee, ondergaat ze een sensueel gevoel van vrijheid.

Afrodite is gerezen uit het schuim! Dit emotioneert haar zo zeer, dat ze meteen daad bij het woord voegt en de nacht in een hangmat doorbrengt en weigert naar binnen te komen, al dringt haar echtgenoot nog zo aan. Haar eerste stap in de vrijheid! Van dat moment gaat Edna uitsluitend voor zichzelf leven.

Als Robert er uiteindelijk blijk van geeft de conventies te willen respecteren, blijft Edna haar streven naar vrijheid trouw. Ze kiest voor een wel heel symbolisch einde. Het moet me van het hart dat ik 'De Ontnuchtering' een echt pertinent foute Nederlandse vertaling van 'The Awakening' vind. De vertaler vond blijkbaar dat Edna ontnuchterd werd. Naar mijn mening werd ze helemaal niet ontnuchterd, hoogstens teleurgesteld. Edna ontwaakte en niets anders. View all 9 comments. Queria a muito tempo ler Kate Chopin. Finalmente tive oportunidade de comprovar a sua qualidade.

Nao imaginava gostar dos seus contos! Mas a cereja no topo do bolo corresponde a historia de " O despertar". Uma novela muito inspirada em livros como " Madame Bovary" e " Anne Karenina". Ao longo da sua vida envolve- se com outros homens sem ser o seu marido. Gosto especialmente de Richard. Kate Chopin foi o meu autor estreia de este ano. E nao me arrependi. Literature, media and public opinion has always painted a very romanticized picture of marriage and motherhood, especially the latter. With that being said, there are some women who just should not be married and should defiantly not be mothers.

Edna is the type of woman that marri Literature, media and public opinion has always painted a very romanticized picture of marriage and motherhood, especially the latter. Edna is the type of woman that married and had children due to the social expectations of her time period. Her choice in husband came from the intention of vexing her father by marrying a Catholic and having children was just an expected side effect of marriage.

In the beginning it is clear that she does have love for children since she spends the day with them, but her husband, Mr. As Edna goes through her awakening, she rebels against the social norms that her husband thinks should be applied towards women. In the scene where Edna throws a vase into the hearth, a traditional way to refer to a home place or household, it shows that she has completely forsaken the order that was thrust upon her through marriage.

While the feminist tones are strong and make Edna an empathetic lead, a part of me felt as if she was being selfish. Yes, she might not have wanted them, but they needed her. She could have been able to show them how to be decent men, who would marry for love and treat a woman the way she wished to have been treated. Nov 11, Jeanette "Astute Crabbist" rated it liked it Shelves: This is a short novel, published in It caused such a scandal that it was banned for decades afterward.

The furor over this book was so upsetting to Kate Chopin that she gave up writing altogether. The story is about Mrs.

One summer, When she is twenty-eight, something inside her starts to shift. She's not fully aware of what's happening, but she knows she feels different. Gradually she stops obeying social convention This is a short novel, published in Gradually she stops obeying social conventions and begins to do and say what she wants. Because she's a woman, everyone dismisses it and says, "Leave her alone and she'll get over it.

She becomes more and more independent and willful, unwilling to play the game anymore. It's a good read, and paints an interesting picture of New Orleans life and customs of that time. My copy Bantam Classics has an intro by Marilynne Robinson that really made me mad! She gives away the conclusion of the story in the second paragraph of the intro! So I read the entire book knowing how it would end, which I never would have guessed on my own. From a modern perspective, it's hard to see what could be scandalous about this story, but it was written in the Victorian age.

The book also has a small collection of excellent short stories at the end. As far as storytelling, some of them are almost better than the novel. I read this book for the first time when I was sixteen, before I understood myself as a feminist or an artist or had any sense of my own possibilities or power, and it changed my life. This story for me is a cautionary one about the danger of awakening to your reality and trying to take control of your own life before you have the necessary skills, a community or a system of support.

Edna is invalidated by her husband and his world, abandoned by her lover, and not truly believed in by the one wo I read this book for the first time when I was sixteen, before I understood myself as a feminist or an artist or had any sense of my own possibilities or power, and it changed my life. Edna is invalidated by her husband and his world, abandoned by her lover, and not truly believed in by the one woman she turns to for inspiration and support. I grappled with a story for a long time that paints a revolutionary woman as ultimately not enough, but I've come to see Edna not as a failure, but as failed.

She is brave, idealistic, and takes unimaginable risks to make her life into something good. In the end, she finds herself utterly alone--it's understandable that she could not come back from the abyss she dared to contend, because there was no one on the other end, urging her through. What is also striking for me is the resilience with which Chopin refused to stick to conventional norms as to how an event should play out, and even how seemingly innocuous statements or behaviors from decidedly normal characters inadvertently give a faintly surrealistic dimension to a scene.

The heroine shifts from extremes of happiness and complacency with her lot in life, and in the next, she wants — no, craves — to be disconnected and swept away from her husband, her friends, her suitors, and even her children. She could be mellow in a nondescript domestic tableau and then later on become slightly irritable and choose to walk away from it all.

The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin

She could be unwittingly seductive to the two men who pursue her attention and in the next breath wish to be rid of their company the fact the she is entertaining such attentions is, of course, food for thought already. She has honed a fine balance between injecting a sense of judicious economy and allowing freedom for fanciful and emotive ruminations in her narration. Mademoiselle opened the drawer and drew forth the letter, the topmost one. Mademoiselle played a soft interlude. It was an improvisation. She sat low at the instrument, and the lines of her body settled into ungraceful curves and angles that gave it an appearance of deformity Edna did not know when the Impromptu began or ended.

The shadows deepened in the little room. The music grew strange and fantastic — turbulent, insistent, plaintive and soft with entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The music filled the room. It floated out upon the night, over the housetops, the crescent of the river, losing itself in the silence of the upper air As it is, The Awakening is an easy read. More often than not, even enjoyable. However , I have to say — much to my surprise — that is it not as enjoyable as the short stories following it. These short stories, showing snapshots of the complexities of relationships between men and women, women and women, and almost everything else in between, were superbly written.

Chopin illustrates, among other things, how the much-vaunted romantic love can be skewed, misunderstood, highly-politicized, or later be revealed as really nothing more than an ideal — which in itself can either be cathartic or disastrous. Marriages are never completely stable, and, indeed, are more likely to be a prison that can literally bring a woman to her knees in despair.

The Awakening and Selected Stories

Husbands and wives can be shown as people possessing unknown depths of blissful ignorance at the rot that has taken hold of their relationship. And then there are stories that dwell largely on the role of women — mothers who, for once, allow themselves to be selfish and indulge be it for just one day , wives who have reached the end of their tether and stand up their husbands, and in turn, discover something about themselves, or single women who daily have had to confront the world at large and often come out as the victims.

Overarching these vignettes is a reflection of women in society and indeed, society reflecting on women , as problematized and succinctly highlighted by the author. And, yes, the endings in these short stories can leave one surprised, disoriented, or rueful. Well, that certainly was the case for me. And the sensation was so refreshing I never wanted my edition to run out of these novellas.

May 02, Chase Anderson rated it it was amazing. Do you or die tryin, girl. Hero all the way. This is why one must always live near water.


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I haven't finished the entire book yet - I'll get to the short stories in the next day or so. But I finished "The Awakening," and I'm not sure just what I think of it yet, thus I've given it somewhat of an ambivalent 3-star rating. This was an interesting read, made more so by understanding the era in which it was written late s and that women back then didn't have the right to be as autonomous as they are in today's world. Edna is I haven't finished the entire book yet - I'll get to the short stories in the next day or so.

Edna is in a marriage that doesn't suit her, and she doesn't find much happiness in the day to day responsibilities of her domestic life, though she wouldn't describe herself as discontent. Then she meets Robert and ends up falling in love with him, and a switch is turned on as her "awakening" to her new self begins.

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My question is, what exactly is she awakening to? Robert disappears from her life for a few months just as Edna realizes her love for him; subsequently, Edna continues to uncover her true self as she starts shedding her domestic responsibilties - she stops taking callers to her home, she leaves the care of her children entirely up to the nanny, and she begins to do whatever she pleases despite the impact it seems to have on her husband and how their acquaintances view them.

Then she meets another man, and while I'm not sure she ever gives herself completely to him, she spends much of her time with him and has an affair, all the while pining away for Robert. Of course, Robert returns to her life at this point, and Edna tries to resume her affair with him. Her "awakening" is beginning to make her look like the town trollop. It seems she is awakening to her adolescence, rather than to a new, better self.

The Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin

But perhaps this is to be expected. Women today are able to study whatever interests them and support themselves without breaking any rules of society.

The Awakening

Today's woman also freely dates and sleeps with whomever she wants, usually without creating a scandal. Most women go through this time of their life during their early twenties or while in college. Edna was never given that freedom, nor were other women of that time. Maybe it's normal that she seems to regress by today's standards. The part of the novel that I truly had a hard time with was the ending. Throughout the book, Edna is striving to become more independent. She follows her own desires and even moves out of her house to live in a small apartment on her own.

But when Robert rejects her because he realizes that their society will never allow them to be together in the end, I think she does something that is out of character - she kills herself. Instead of awakening to the independent Edna we've been witness to throughout the novel, in the end she shows herself to be dependent on a man for her happiness.

The Awakening was interesting on some levels, and I loved how Kate Chopin expressed some voluptuous and sensual feelings, the "awakening" of a woman to her senses and to a freedom she never really experienced before But it was sometimes lengthy in its descriptions, and overall I felt both captivated at times and bored at others. The other short stories were less interesting, for the exception of one or two, and had this same ambivalence: Not one The Awakening was interesting on some levels, and I loved how Kate Chopin expressed some voluptuous and sensual feelings, the "awakening" of a woman to her senses and to a freedom she never really experienced before Not one of my favourite reads so far this year, but nevertheless interesting in some aspects.

Everytime I read Kate Chopin, its like talking to an old friend. This person knows and understands me well and vice versa. It is a blessing, a heaven-sent that we have Kate Chopin as part of the shapers of our history. I will re-read in that regard,. I picked this up in New Orleans where I found myself without anything to read, and figuring it was the right place to finally get round to Chopin.

I read the stories all in one go, on the plane home, very drawn in by their limpid prose and the vividness of their renderings of a place I'd just left. That so many of them are about rendering the ordinary arrangements of domesticity under patriarchy in terms of horror was obviously pleasing. It took me a while, then, to get around to The Awakening , I picked this up in New Orleans where I found myself without anything to read, and figuring it was the right place to finally get round to Chopin. It took me a while, then, to get around to The Awakening , which I liked best in its portrayals of women's perceptions of each other, and of Edna alone.

Chopin's style, anyhow, is the thing that really carries everything; 'limpid' really is the only word. But some degree of sentimentalism about slavery is always lurking in the substructure of the stories, and sometimes becomes the entire subject. There's no reason anyone with any sense should be surprised by that, but I was, because I forgot like a fool to question white feminists' embrace of Chopin.