Condemned as sordid and immoral on its first publication in 1899, this story of a woman trapped in her marriage effectively ended Chopin's career but was revived as a proto-feminist classic in the 1970s. It is one of the earliest American novels to focus on women's issues without condescension, blending a realistic narrative, incisive social commentary and psychological complexity and is arguably a precursor to Hemingway and Faulkner, whilst echoing the works of Edith Wharton and Henry James.