Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Providing all the tools for engaged, informed individual analysis of the text, this is an essential starting point for students of American literature and women's writing, or for anyone fascinated by Chopin's controversial work.

Zusatztext 'A Clear concise and convincing analysis of the works position in the critical canon of American Literature.' - European Journal of English Studies'A reader friendly critical study of an American Masterpiece.' - Chemnitz University of Technology! Germany. Informationen zum Autor Janet Beer is Professor of English! and Dean and Pro-Vice-Chancellor! at Manchester Metropolitan University. Elizabeth Nolan is Associate Lecturer in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University. Klappentext First published in 1899! "The Awakening"'s engagement with taboo issues of female sexuality and infidelity prompted a flurry of damning reviews that sent the book out of print and int obscurity for several decades. However! it is now hailed as a key early feminist text and has become one of the most widely studied works of American literature. This" Sourcebook "combines accessible commentary with reprinted documents to provide the ideal introduction to the novel. Its first section! "Contexts" provides biographical information on Chopin and explores 1890s American society to reveal the contextual backdrop to her work. The editors pay particular attention to Chopin's Louisiana Creole heritage and to the expectations of women in this era. "Interpretations" begins with an overview of the critical reception of the novel and then introduces extracts from important early reviews and contemporary criticism. Readers are carefully guided through a range of crucial issues from Chopin's treatment of female sexuality to the influence of Darwinism on her writing. The following section! "Key Passages!" reproduces selected chapters fof the original text! along with extensive commentary. These commentaries equip readers to make connections with the critical and contextual issues raised earlier in the Sourcebook and to initiate engaged! informed! individual new analyses of Chopin's text. A concluding "Further Reading" section is provided for those wishing to extend their work on the novel. Offering a perfectly judged selection of reprinted materials and insightful! refreshingly clear commentary! this volume will greatly enrich any reading of "The Awakening." Zusammenfassung Providing all the tools for engaged, informed individual analysis of the text, this is an essential starting point for students of American literature and women's writing, or for anyone fascinated by Chopin's controversial work....

Autorentext

Janet Beer is Professor of English, and Dean and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, at Manchester Metropolitan University. Elizabeth Nolan is Associate Lecturer in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Klappentext

Damned upon publication for engaging with the taboo issues of female sexuality and infidelity, Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899) is now hailed as a key early feminist text and an important work of American literature. This sourcebook combines accessible commentary with reprinted documents to provide the ideal introduction to this widely debated novel. The editors offer: extensive coverage of the contexts to the work, including biographical information on Chopin and the social and historical backgrounds to her writing an outline of the critical reception of the novel from the early reviews to contemporary debates, and extracts from influential essays selected chapters of the original text, reproduced with extensive commentary on key issues and suggestions on links with contextual and critical materials a guide to further reading, ideal for extended independent study. Providing all the tools for engaged, informed individual analysis of the text, this sourcebook will greatly enrich any reading of The Awakening. It is an essential starting point for students of American literature and women's writing, or for anyone fascinated by Chopin's controversial work.

Inhalt

Introduction 1: Contexts, Contextual Overview, Chronology, Contemporary Documents: Albert Rhodes, 'The Louisiana Creoles', The Galaxy (1873) Amelia E. Barr, 'The Modern Novel', The North American Review (1894) Amelia E. Barr, 'Good and Bad Mothers', The North American Review (1893) 'The New Heroines of Fiction', Harper's Bazaar (1898) 'French Novels for Public Libraries', Harper's Bazaar (1896) Arthur Martine, Martine's Hand-Book of Etiquette (1866) 'A Social Problem', Harper's Bazaar (1896) 'What Girls are Doing', Harper's Bazaar (1897) 'Kissing', Godey's Lady's Book (1876) 'Smoking in the Street Cars', The Daily Picayune (1899) 'Bathing and Bathing Costumes' (article), The Delineator (1895) Robert Grant, 'The Art of Living: The Summer Problem', Scribner's Magazine (1895) Albert Rhodes, 'Suicide', The Galaxy (1876) Jessie]. Cassidy, 'The Legal Status of Women' (1897) Evelyn W. Ordway, 'How the Women of New Orleans Discovered their Wish to Vote (1900) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Women and Economics (1898) Extracts from Kate Chopin's Commonplace Book (1867-1870) 2: Interpretations, Critical History, Nineteenth-Century Responses, Contemporary Reviews: C.L. Deyo, St Louis Post-Dispatch (1899) Providence Sunday Journal (1899) Chicago Times-Herald (1899) The Outlook (1899) St Louis Daily Globe-Democrat (1899) Willa Cather, Pittsburgh Leader (1899) Modern Criticism: Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, 'The Awakening in the Context of Experience, Culture and Values of Southern Women' (1988) Nancy Walker, 'The Historical and Cultural Setting' (1988) Emily Toth, Kate Chopin: A Life of the Author of The Awakening, Chapter One (1990) Bert Bender, 'The Teeth of Desire: The Awakening and The Descent of Man' (1991) Michelle A. Birnbaum, 'Alien Hands: Kate Chopin and the Colonization of Race' (1994) Cynthia Griffin Wolff, 'Un-Utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in The Awakening' (1996) Helen Taylor, 'Walking Through New Orleans: Kate Chopin and the Female Flaneur' (1997) Donald Pizer, 'A Note on Kate Chopin's The Awakening as Naturalistic Fiction' (2001) Elisabeth Le Blanc, 'The Metaphorical Lesbian: Edna Pontellier in The Awakening' (1996) Stephen Heath, 'Chopin's Parrot' (1994) Ivy Schweitzer, 'Maternal Discourse and the Romance of Self-Possession in Kate Chopin's The Awakening' (1990) Janet Beer, 'Walking the Streets: Women out Alone in Kate Chopin's New Orleans' (2004) 3: Key Passages, Introduction, 4: Further Reading.