The Complete Works of Kate Chopin

by Kate Chopin, Edmund Wilson (Foreword by)

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." Now for the first time, Seyersted's Complete Works is available in a single-volume paperback. It is the first and only paperback edition of Chopin's total oeuvre. 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 original 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.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Novels, Fiction, Poetry

1032 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2006

About the author

Kate Chopin was an American author whose fiction grew out of the complex cultures and contradictions of Louisiana life, and she gradually became one of the most distinctive voices in nineteenth century literature. Raised in a household shaped by strong women of French and Irish heritage, she developed an early love for books and storytelling, and that immersion in language later shaped the quiet precision of her prose. After marrying and moving to New Orleans, then later to the small community of Cloutierville, she absorbed the rhythms, customs, and tensions of Creole and Cajun society, finding in its people the material that would feed both her sympathy and her sharp observational eye. When personal loss left her searching for direction, she began writing with the encouragement of a family friend, discovering not only a therapeutic outlet but a genuine vocation. Within a few years, her stories appeared in major magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, and The Century, where readers encountered her local-color sketches, her portrayals of women navigating desire and constraint, and her nuanced depictions of life in the American South. She published two story collections, Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, introducing characters whose emotional lives were depicted with unusual honesty. Her short fiction often explored subjects others avoided, including interracial relationships, female autonomy, and the quiet but powerful inner conflicts of everyday people. That same unflinching quality shaped The Awakening, the novel that would later become her most celebrated work. At the time of its publication, however, its frank treatment of a married woman’s emotional and sensual awakening unsettled many critics, who judged it harshly, yet Chopin continued to write stories that revealed her commitment to portraying women as fully human, with desires and ambitions that stretched beyond the confines of convention. She admired the psychological clarity of Guy de Maupassant, but she pushed beyond his influence to craft a voice that was unmistakably her own, direct yet lyrical, and deeply attuned to the inner lives of her characters. Though some of her contemporaries viewed her themes as daring or even improper, others recognized her narrative skill, and within a decade of her passing she was already being described as a writer of remarkable talent. Her rediscovery in the twentieth century led readers to appreciate how modern her concerns truly were: the struggle for selfhood, the tension between social expectations and private longing, and the resilience of women seeking lives that felt authentically theirs. Today, her stories and novels are widely read, admired for their clarity, emotional intelligence, and the boldness with which they illuminate the complexities of human experience.

Reviews

[Rick Slane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I skipped the essays and criticism. She wrote great short short-stories. Her novel The Awakening was somewhat similar to Madame Bovary. Shortly after her publications her works were softly banned. There were no court cases just quiet removal from bookstores and libraries. She was considered too liberated or progressive for the early 1900's but her work seems tame today. It is almost all set in Cajun Louisiana.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forward by Edmund Wilson 3⭐
Introduction 3⭐

Short Stories and Sketches:
Emancipation: A Life Fable 4⭐
Wiser Than a God 2.5⭐
A Point at Issue! 2.5⭐
Miss Witherwell’s Mistake 3.5⭐
With the Violin 3.25⭐
Mrs. Mobry’s Reason 3⭐
A No-Account Creole 4⭐
For Marse Chouchoute 4⭐
The Going Away of Liza 3.25⭐
The Maid of Saint Phillippe 3.5⭐
A Wizard from Gettysburg 4.5⭐
A Shameful Affair 4⭐
A Rude Awakening 4⭐
A Harbinger 3⭐
Doctor Chevalier’s Lie 4⭐
A Very Fine Fiddle 3⭐
Boulôt and Boulotte 2.5⭐
Love on the Bon-Dieu 4.5⭐
An Embarrassing Position. Comedy in One Act 3⭐
Beyond the Bayou 3⭐
After the Winter 4⭐
The Bênitous’ Slave 3.5⭐
A Turkey Hunt 3⭐
Old Aunt Peggy 3⭐
The Lilies 3.5⭐
Ripe Figs 3⭐
Croque-Mitaine 3⭐
A Little Free-Mulatto 2.5⭐
Miss McEnders 3.5⭐
Loka 3.5⭐
At the ’Cadian Ball 3⭐
A Visit to Avoyelles 3⭐
Ma’ame Pélagieb 4.5⭐
Désirée’s Baby 5⭐
Caline 4⭐
The Return of Alcibiade 4⭐
In and Out of Old Natchitoches 3⭐
Mamouche 3.5⭐
Madame Célestin’s Divorce 4⭐
An Idle Fellow 3.5⭐
A Matter of Prejudice 4.5⭐
Azélie 3.5⭐
A Lady of Bayou St. John 3⭐
La Belle Zoraïde 3.5⭐
At Chênière Caminada 3⭐
A Gentleman of Bayou Têche 5⭐
In Sabine 4.5⭐
A Respectable Woman 4⭐
Tante Cat’rinette 4.5⭐
A Dresden Lady in Dixie 3.5⭐
The Story of an Hour 5⭐
Lilacs 3⭐
The Night Came Slowly 4⭐
Juanita 3.⭐
Cavanelle 3⭐
Regret 5⭐
The Kiss 4⭐
Ozème’s Holiday 4⭐
A Sentimental Soul 4.5⭐
Her Letters 4.5⭐
Odalie Misses Mass 4.5⭐
Polydore 4.5⭐
Dead Men’s Shoes 5⭐
Athénaïse 4⭐
Two Summers and Two Souls 3⭐
The Unexpected 4⭐
Two Portraits 3.5⭐
Fedora 4⭐
Vagabonds 3⭐
Madame Martel’s Christmas Eve 3⭐
The Recovery 3⭐
A Night in Acadie 3.5⭐
A Pair of Silk Stockings 4⭐
Nég Créol 3⭐
Aunt Lympy’s Interference 4⭐
The Blind Man 3.5⭐
A Vocation and a Voice 5⭐
A Mental Suggestion 3⭐
Suzette 3.5⭐
The Locket 4⭐
A Morning Walk 3⭐
An Egyptian Cigarette 3⭐
A Family Affair 3.5⭐
Elizabeth Stock’s One Story 4⭐
The Storm 4⭐
The Godmother 4.5⭐
A Little Country Girl 4⭐
A Reflection 2.5⭐
Ti Démon 3.25⭐
A December Day in Dixie 2.5⭐
The Gentleman from New Orleans 3.5⭐
Charlie 5⭐
The White Eagle 4.25⭐
The Wood-Choppers 3.25⭐
Polly 2.5⭐
The Impossible Miss Meadows 2.25⭐

Essays and Comments:
The Western Association of Writers 2.5⭐
“Crumbling Idols” by Hamlin Garland 2.75⭐
The Real Edwin Booth 3⭐
Emile Zola’s “Lourdes” 3⭐
Confidences 3.5⭐
In the Confidence of a Story-Writer 3.5⭐

As You Like It (a series of 6 essays) 3⭐
I “I have a young friend . . .”
II “It has lately been . ..”
III “Several years ago . . .”
IV “A while ago . . .”
V “A good many of us . . .”
VI “We are told . ..”

On Certain Brisk, Bright Days 2.5⭐

Poems:
If It Might Be 2.5⭐
Psyche’s Lament 2.5⭐
The Song Everlasting 2.5⭐
You and I 3⭐
It Matters All 2.5⭐
In Dreams Throughout the Night 2.5⭐
Good Night 2⭐
If Some Day 2.5⭐
To Carrie B 1.5⭐
To Hider Schuyler 1.5⭐
To “Billy” with a Box of Cigars 1.5⭐
To Mrs. R 1.5⭐
Let the Night Go 2.5⭐
There’s Music Enough 2⭐
An Ecstasy of Madness 2⭐
I Wanted God 2⭐
The Haunted Chamber 2⭐
Life 2⭐
Because 2⭐
To the Friend of My Youth: To Kitty 1.5⭐

Novels:
At Fault 3⭐
The Awakening 5⭐

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can never get enough of Kate Chopin even though I have read her a half dozen times. She is famous as being one of the first feminist novelists and short story writers, but what interests me most is the style and flow of her writing. Her sentences, vocabulary and the way she paints pictures of the lazy south plantation life is outstanding. I highly recommend this book.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

We didn't actually read this book, but downloaded selected short stories of Kate Chopin for book group. What amazed me was how 'racy' these stories were, considering when they were written. Explorations of prejudice, class, love and lust. Interesting.

[Julie H. Ernstein]

So the version I have is the great horkin' two-volume set from 1970. Oh well, it's not like she lived in immediate proximity to my university or anything....

[Nancy]

Love the story "No Regret"