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Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899)
When Kate Chopin penned her best-known work, The Awakening, "feminism" was not a commonly used word in the American lexicon. Edna is a Southern woman of the 1890s struggling between what society expects of her and what she herself wants for her life. Chopin tells her story in a naturalistic style that emphasizes inner feelings. This style is a precursor to the stream-of-consciousness technique employed in the great novels of William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf. It is not surprising that The Awakening met with harsh criticism when it was published in 1899. Its themes of infidelity and female sexuality pushed the boundaries of acceptability. From then on, Chopin never wrote another novel and faced much resistance to publishing any of her work. |