Kate Chopin
1 book analyzed
Biography
Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis to an Irish father and a French Creole mother — the Louisiana Creole world she depicts in The Awakening was part of her actual heritage. She married Oscar Chopin, a Louisiana cotton merchant, moved to New Orleans and then to Natchitoches Parish, had six children, and was widowed at thirty-two when Oscar died of swamp fever. She returned to St. Louis with her children, began writing seriously, and published two collections of short stories and two novels. The Awakening appeared in April 1899 to reviews that ranged from dismissive to outraged — critics called it 'morbid,' 'unhealthy,' and 'nauseating.' She was reportedly dropped from her St. Louis social club. She published little after 1899 and died of a brain hemorrhage in 1904, four years after the novel destroyed her public career. The Awakening was not rediscovered until the 1960s feminist movement, when scholars like Per Seyersted began arguing for its canonical importance. It is now considered one of the earliest American feminist novels.