Kate Chopin, The Awakening

Val Scullion (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1899

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Published in April 1899, Kate Chopin’s

The Awakening

met with a barrage of negative reviews. Chopin was typically castigated by the

New OrleansTimes-Democrat

newspaper for “totally unjustifiable conduct”. The central character of the novel, Edna Pontellier, was vilified for infidelity and for selfishly neglecting her husband and children. Moral condemnation, with some slippage from character to author, was a common critical response. A positive review by Charles Deyo in the

St Louis Post-Dispatch

interpreted the novel as a critique of a husband who treats his wife as a possession, thus driving her to seek some kind of self-expression. He also praised Chopin’s “delicious English, quick with life, never a word too much”. This prescient review anticipates recent critical…

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2182 words

Citation: Scullion, Val. "The Awakening". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1536, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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