The Real Kate Chopin

by Lorraine Nye Eliot

Kate Chopin is best known for her novel, The Awakening; the beautifully told story of a young women’s awakening to her own identity as a free and sexual being, which puts her in a tragic conflict with the expectations upon her as a woman, wife, and mother in the puritanical America of the 1890s. Although today Chopin is looked upon as far ahead of her time, in 1899 these themes caused scandal which ended her opportunities as a writer. Lorraine Nye Eliot’s careful research into the events and influences of Chopin’s often difficult life – particularly the influence of French writers both masculine and feminine – provides new information which illuminates Chopin’s writing. Eliot’s sympathetic and insightful reading of her work in parallel with her life story gives us an understanding of the real Kate Chopin; this fascinating, dedicated, and passionate woman who is recognized by modern critics as a harbinger in the development of feminist voice in American literature.

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2002