Edna Pontellier struggles with her role as a housewife, and yearns for social freedom. Her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood fuel her desires and passion, despite the prevailing social attitudes of the South. On a quest of self discovery, Edna flees her domestic role in search of love and spiritual freedom in a world that isn't ready for her.
The Awakening is one of the earliest novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. The novel was particularly controversial upon publication because Chopin didn't condemn Edna's desire for an affair. Instead, Chopin focused on human behaviour and the complexities of social structures while exploring the banalities of everyday life and the consequences of social norms.
This cloth-bound book includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket, and is limited to 100 copies.
Author Biography
Kate Chopin (born Katherine O'Flaherty; February 8, 1850 - August 22, 1904), was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is now considered by some scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminist authors of Southern or Catholic background, such as Zelda Fitzgerald. Of maternal French and paternal Irish descent, Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She married and moved with her husband to New Orleans. They later lived in the country in Cloutierville, Louisiana. From 1892 to 1895, Chopin wrote short stories for both children and adults that were published in such national magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, The Century Magazine, and The Youth's Companion. Her stories aroused controversy because of her subjects and her approach; they were condemned as immoral by some critics. Her major works were two short story collections: Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Her important short stories included "Desiree's Baby" (1893), a tale of miscegenation in antebellum Louisiana, "The Story of an Hour" (1894), and "The Storm" (1898). "The Storm" is a sequel to "At the Cadian Ball," which appeared in her first collection of short stories, Bayou Folk. Chopin also wrote two novels: At Fault (1890) and The Awakening (1899), which are set in New Orleans and Grand Isle, respectively. The characters in her stories are usually residents of Louisiana. Many of her works are set in Natchitoches in north central Louisiana, a region where she lived. Within a decade of her death, Chopin was widely recognized as one of the leading writers of her time.
