Most Popular Books by Kate Chopin

Edna Pontellier is married, twenty-eight, and at a crossroads in her life. She is passionate and artistic but has no one who understands her deep yearnings. She jumps at the chance to spend a summer away from her husband and the heat of New Orleans at a small coastal retreat. Enveloped by a small circle of friends, she begins to throw off the strictures of the 1890s bourgeoisie. Stepwise, Edna renounces her obligations, takes a lover, and is propelled on a course that frees, consumes, and eventually destroys her. In what was to be her last novel, Kate Chopin shocked the audiences of her day by depicting a woman being fulfilled by throwing off the ties of marriage and children.

Mrs. Louise Mallard, afflicted with a heart condition, reflects on the death of her husband from the safety of her locked room. Originally published in Vogue magazine, “The Story of an Hour” was retitled as “The Dream of an Hour,” when it was published amid much controversy under its new title a year later in St. Louis Life. “The Story of an Hour” was adapted to film in The Joy That Kills by director Tina Rathbone, which was part of a PBS anthology called American Playhouse. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

A feminist literary landmark: the daring story of a woman''s search for personal freedom that was so controversial in 1899 that it ended its author''s career. With an effortless, sure-handed artistry, Kate Chopin tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young mother and model wife, whose romantic involvement with a young man at a seaside resort allows her for the first time to imagine a freer life. Upon her return to New Orleans, Edna leaves her husband’s home for her own cottage, pursues her artistic ambitions, and begins an affair, only to discover that the constraints of social custom are more powerful than she had thought. Contemporary readers were shocked by the frank, unapologetic treatment of adultery in The Awakening, but over the ensuing century the novel went on to achieve the status of a classic for its visionary prescience and narrative brilliance.

Bayou Folk (1894) is a short story collection by American author Kate Chopin. Chopin, a pioneering feminist and gifted writer, sought to portray the experiences of Southern women and ethnic minorities struggling to survive in an era decimated by war and economic hardship. Bayou Folk collects twenty-three of her stories. “Beyond the Bayou” is the story of La Folle, a thirty-five year old black woman living on the outskirts of a Louisiana plantation. Traumatized with memories of the war, she has spent her entire life on one side of the bayou. From her modest cabin, she entertains visits from the owner of Bellissime plantation and his young children. La Folle holds a special fondness for Chéri, the owner’s young son, whom she entertains with stories of a world she has seldom, if ever, seen, a world “beyond the bayou.” When a terrible accident occurs, however, she is forced to face her deepest fears, or else suffer the most unthinkable loss of all. In “Désirée''s Baby,” the most acclaimed of Chopin’s short stories, a young woman married to plantation owner Armand Aubigny awaits the birth of her first child. When the child is born with a racially ambiguous appearance, however, Aubigny quickly blames his wife, whose parents are suspected of having African American heritage. Banished from the plantation, Désirée leaves her young family behind, unaware of the secret her husband declined to share. Bayou Folk showcases the literary talent of Kate Chopin, a writer with an eye for characters on the fringe, people whose hearts often clash with the rules and demands of culture in the American South. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Kate Chopin’s Bayou Folk is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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In 1969, Per Seyersted gave the world the first collected works of Kate Chopin. Seyersted’s presentation of Chopin’s writings and biographical and bibliographical information led to the rediscovery and celebration of this turn-of-the-century author. Newsweek hailed the two-volume opus—“In story after story and in all her novels, Kate Chopin’s oracular feminism and prophetic psychology almost outweigh her estimable literary talents. Her revival is both interesting and timely.” Containing twenty poems, ninety-six stories, two novels, and thirteen essays—in short, everything Chopin wrote except several additional poems and three unfinished children’s stories—as well as Seyersted’s revelatory introduction and Edmund Wilson’s foreword, this anthology is both a historical and a literary achievement. It is ideal for anyone who wishes to explore the pleasures of reading this highly acclaimed author.

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."

Celebrated for her depictions of life among Louisiana''s Creole and Cajun peoples, Kate Chopin (1850-1904) is today seen as a major figure in southern literature. Her short stories and her last novel, The Awakening (1899), are widely read and studied. Unjustly neglected, however, is her first novel, At Fault, which Chopin published in 1890 at her own expense. This edition of At Fault -- the first printing to appear since Chopin''s Complete Works was issued in 1969 -- now makes the book available to a wide audience. The novel centers on Therese Lafirme, a widow who owns and runs a plantation in post-Civil War Louisiana. She encounters David Hosmer, who buys timber rights to her property to secure raw materials for his newly constructed sawmill. When David remarries, a love triangle develops between David, Fanny (his alcoholic wife), and Therese, who tries to balance her strong moral sensibility against her growing love for David. In depicting these relationships, Chopin acutely dramatizes the conflict between growing industrialism and the agrarian traditions of the Old South -- as well as the changes to the land and the society that inevitably resulted from that conflict. Editors Suzanne Disheroon Green and David J. Caudle provide meticulous annotations to the text of At Fault, facilitating the reader''s understanding of the complex and exotic culture and language of nineteenth-century Louisiana. Also included is a substantial body of supporting materials that contextualize the novel, ranging from a summary of critical responses to materials illuminating the economic, social, historical, and religious influences on Chopin''s texts.

"There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water." ― Kate Chopin - A Classic! - Includes Images of Chopin and Her Life.

Title: The Awakening and Selected Short StoriesAuthor: Kate ChopinLanguage: English

A novel for secondary school English classes with great writing and important themes.