Overview
Controversial when published in 1899 for its atypically frank critique of gender roles and salacious exploration of female eroticism and infidelity, The Awakening now endures as a landmark of early feminist fiction, celebrated for its lyrical craftsmanship and regarded as one of the first works in the Southern tradition of Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams.
Opening at a Gulf of Mexico resort and set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, the novel follows Edna Pontellier, an increasingly disillusioned wife and mother. Disrupted by an extramarital affair early in the narrative, Edna begins her inward journey toward happiness, a process that will leave her closest friend confused and her knowing husband doomed.
At the time The Awakening was published, Kate Chopin was already recognized for her stylistic command and psychologically complex characters. But Chopin's liberated Edna Pontellier scandelized critics and readers of her time, sending the now-revered work into obscurity before its eventual rediscovery decades later.
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