Kate Chopin

Chopin, 1850-1904

Backgroundn Born Kate Flaherty in 1850 in St. Louis,

Missourin Father from Galway, Ireland; mother of

French heritagen Raised Catholicn In 1870, married Oscar Chopin and

moved to New Orleansn Had 6 children between 1871 and 1879n Oscar died in 1882, leaving his widow

in debtn Moved back to St. Louis and began

writing for a living, mostly short stories and articles

n The Awakening publ. in 1899

Reception of The Awakening

n Very mixed reviews

n Subject matter harshly criticized, but artistry praised

First Edition Cover, 1899

Critical Commentsn St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat: “It is not a healthy book…It is

a morbid book.”n St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “It is sad and mad and bad but it is all

consummate art.”n Literature: “One cannot refrain from regretting that so beautiful

a style and so much refinement of taste have been spent by Miss Chopin on an essentially vulgar story.”

n Los Angeles Sunday Times: ”The evident powers of the author are employed on a subject that is unworthy of them, and when she writes another book it is to be hoped that she will choose a theme more healthful and sweeter of smell.”

n Willa Cather: Could not explain why Chopin “devoted so exquisite and sensitive, well-governed a style to so trite and sordid a theme.”

Publishing Historyn Reprinted in 1906n Then out of print for many yearsn Printed again in the 1960’s, when Per

Seyersted, a Norwegian scholar and professor, rediscovered her and championed her work

n With emergence of feminist literary criticism in the 1970’s, became a key text in the literary canon

n Much disagreement, though, about how we’re to view Edna and the ending of the book

Impressionist Writern Known for

brilliant, innovative style

n Learned from French realist writers Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant

Impressionismn Reality not simply out

there, unchanging, eternaln Reality depends on

observer, point-of-viewn Concerned with mood,

sensationsn The artist attempts to

present the impressions an object makes upon him or her, rather than an objectively realistic version of the object itself.

19th Century Realism: verisimilitude

Gustave Corbet, “The Stone Breakers, 1849-1850

Impressionist Painting

Claude Monet’s Paintings of Rouen Cathedral

Impressionism and ChopinIt was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint

light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.

The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes that the damp sleeve of her peignoir no longer served to dry them. She was holding the back of her chair with one hand; her loose sleeve had slipped almost to the shoulder of her uplifted arm. Turning, she thrust her face, streaming and wet, into the bend of her arm, and she went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms. She could not have told why she was crying. Such experiences as the foregoing were not uncommon in her married life …

An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul’s summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.