Kate Chopin Popular Books
Kate Chopin Biography & Facts
Kate Chopin (, also US: ; born Katherine O'Flaherty; February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904) was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is considered by scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminist authors of Southern or Catholic background, such as Zelda Fitzgerald, and she is one of the more frequently read and recognized writers of Louisiana Creole heritage. She is best known today for her 1899 novel The Awakening. Of maternal French and paternal Irish descent, Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She married and moved with her husband to New Orleans. They later lived in the country in Cloutierville, Louisiana. From 1892 to 1895, Chopin wrote short stories for both children and adults that were published in national magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, The Century Magazine, and The Youth's Companion. Her stories aroused controversy because of her subjects and her approach; they were condemned as immoral by some critics. Her major works were two short story collections and two novels. The collections are Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Her important short stories included "Désirée's Baby" (1893), a tale of an interracial relationship in antebellum Louisiana, "The Story of an Hour" (1894), and "The Storm" (written 1898, first published 1969). ("The Storm" is a sequel to "At the Cadian Ball (1892)," which appeared in Bayou Folk, her first collection of short stories.) Chopin also wrote two novels: At Fault (1890) and The Awakening (1899), which are set in New Orleans and Grand Isle, respectively. The characters in her stories are usually residents of Louisiana, and many are Creoles of various ethnic or racial backgrounds. Many of her works are set in Natchitoches in north-central Louisiana, a region where she lived. Within a decade of her death, Chopin was widely recognized as one of the leading writers of her time. In 1915, Fred Lewis Pattee wrote "some of [Chopin's] work is equal to the best that has been produced in France or even in America. [She displayed] what may be described as a native aptitude for narration amounting almost to genius." She was not related to famous Polish composer Frederic Chopin as some may believe but she did have a son named Frederick Chopin, who is probably named after the composer. Life Chopin was born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Thomas O'Flaherty, was a successful businessman who had immigrated to the United States from Galway, Ireland. Her mother, Eliza Faris, was his second wife, and a well-connected member of the ethnic French community in St. Louis as the daughter of Athénaïse Charleville, a Louisiana creole of French Canadian descent. Some of Chopin's ancestors were among the early European (French) inhabitants of Dauphin Island, Alabama. Kate was the third of five children, but her sisters died in infancy and her half-brothers (from her father's first marriage) died in their early 20s. They were raised Roman Catholic in the French and Irish traditions. She also became an avid reader of fairy tales, poetry, religious allegories, and classic and contemporary novels. She graduated from Sacred Heart Convent in St. Louis in 1868. At the age of five, she was sent to Sacred Heart Academy, where she learned how to handle her own money and make her own decisions. Upon her father's death, she was brought home to live with her grandmother and great-grandmother, comprising three generations of women who were widowed young and never remarried. For two years, she was tutored at home by her great-grandmother, Victoria (or Victoire) Charleville, who taught French, music, history, gossip, and the need to look on life without fear. After those two years, Kate went back to Sacred Heart Academy, which her best friend and neighbor, Kitty Garesche, also attended, and where her mentor, Mary O'Meara, taught. A gifted writer of both verse and prose, O'Meara guided her student to write regularly, to judge herself critically, and to conduct herself valiantly. Nine days after Kate and Kitty's first communions in May 1861, the American Civil War came to St. Louis. During the war, Kate's half-brother died of fever, and her great-grandmother died as well. After the war ended, Kitty and her family were banished from St. Louis for supporting the Confederacy. In St. Louis, Missouri on June 8, 1870, she married Oscar Chopin and settled with him in his home town of New Orleans. The Chopins had six children between 1871 and 1879: in order of birth, Jean Baptiste, Oscar Charles, George Francis, Frederick, Felix Andrew, and Lélia (baptized Marie Laïza). In 1879, Oscar Chopin's cotton brokerage failed. The family left the city and moved to Cloutierville in south Natchitoches Parish to manage several small plantations and a general store. They became active in the community, where Chopin found, in the local creole culture, much material for her future writing. When Oscar Chopin died in 1882, he left Kate $42,000 in debt (approximately $1.33 million in 2024). The scholar Emily Toth noted that "for a while the widow Kate ran his [Oscar's] business and flirted outrageously with local men; (she even engaged in a relationship with a married farmer)." Although Chopin worked to make her late husband's plantation and general store succeed, she sold her Louisiana business two years later. Chopin's mother had implored her to move back to St. Louis, which she did, with her mother's financial support. Her children gradually settled into life in the bustling city, but Chopin's mother died the following year. Chopin struggled with depression after the successive loss of her husband, her business, and her mother. Chopin's obstetrician and family friend Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer suggested that she start writing, believing that it could be therapeutic for her. He believed that writing could be a focus for her energy as well as a source of income. By the early 1890s, Chopin's short stories, articles, and translations appeared in periodicals, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and in various literary magazines. During a period of considerable publishing of folk tales, works in dialect, and other elements of Southern folk life, she was considered a regional writer who provided local color. Her literary qualities were largely overlooked. In 1899, The Awakening, her second novel, was published. Some newspaper critics reviewed the novel favorably. However, the critical reception was largely negative. The critics considered the behavior of the novel's characters, especially the women, as well as Chopin's general treatment of female sexuality, motherhood, and marital infidelity, to be in conflict with prevailing standards of moral conduct and therefore offensive. This novel, her best-known work, is the story of a woman trapped within the confines of an oppressive society. Out of print for several decades, it was rediscovered in the 1970s, when there was a wave of new stu.... Discover the Kate Chopin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Kate Chopin books.
Best Seller Kate Chopin Books of 2024
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Works of Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin28 works of Kate Chopin American author of short stories and novels (18501904) This ebook presents a collection of 28 works of Kate Chopin. A dynamic table of contents allows you t...
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The Short Stories Of Kate Chopin
Kate ChopinThe short story is often viewed as an inferior relation to the Novel. But it is an art in itself. To take a story and distil its essence into fewer pages while keeping character ...
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The Confidence-man
Herman MelvilleOnboard the Fidèle, a steamboat floating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, a confidence man sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. In quick succession he assumes numerous gu...
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Essential Novelists - Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin & August NemoWelcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most ...
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Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie
Kate Chopin & Bernard KoloskiIn one volume, the two shortstory collections that established Kate Chopin as one of America's bestloved realist writers.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading p...
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The Awakening and Selected Stories
Kate Chopin & Claire Vaye WatkinsKate Chopin's groundbreaking depiction of a woman who dares to defy the expectations of society in the pursuit of her desireWhen The Awakening was first published in 1899, charges ...
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Kate Chopin The Dover Reader
Kate ChopinA precursor of the twentieth century's feminist authors, Kate Chopin (1850–1904) wrote short stories and novels for children and adults. The St. Louis native lived in New Orleans f...
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The Plumed Serpent
D. H. LawrenceThe Plumed Serpent is a 1926 political novel by D. H. Lawrence. The novel reflects his experiences in Mexico in 1923. The story tells about Kate Leslie, an Irish tourist who visits...
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Kate Chopin and the City
Heather OstmanThis book examines selected short stories and novels by Kate Chopin through the lens of the city of New Orleans. Chopin’s depictions of and references to New Orleans celebrate the ...
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The Kate Chopin Short Story Collection
Kate ChopinKate Chopin was an American author and one of the most famous feminists of the 19th century. Chopin’s most famous works include The Awakening and At Fault. This edition...
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Study Guide to The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Intelligent EducationA comprehensive study guide offering indepth explanation, essay, and test prep for Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues w...
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The Kate Chopin Collection
Kate ChopinKarpathos publishes the greatest works of history's greatest authors and collects them to make it easy and affordable for readers to have them all at the push of a button. Al...
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The Collected Works of Kate Chopin
Kate ChopinThis comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works the Œuvre of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook easytoread and easytonavigate: The ...
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Short Stories - Kate Chopin
Kate ChopinKate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty (February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904), was a U.S. author of short stories and novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner ...
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The Awakening
Kate ChopinThe Awakeningby Kate ChopinFirst published in 1899, this beautiful, brief novel so disturbed critics and the public that it was banished for decades afterward. Now widely read and ...
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7 best short stories by Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin & August NemoKate Chopin is considered one of the first feminist authors of the 20th century. She is often credited for introducing the modern feminist literary movement. After the death of her...
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Kate Chopin in New Orleans
PhD, Rosary O’Neill & PhD, Rory O’Neill SchmittAuthors Rory O'Neill Schmitt and Rosary O'Neill share the NOLA life of Kate Chopin, the first great American woman novelist.In this epic story, Chopin becomes a Phoenix rising ami...
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The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin
Janet BeerAlthough she enjoyed only modest success during her lifetime, Kate Chopin is now recognised as a unique voice in American literature. Her seminal novel, The Awakening, published in...
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The Kingdom of Sand
Andrew HolleranA NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE PICKONE OF THE LONDON TIMES' TOP TWENTYSIX FICTION BOOKS OF THE YEARLA TIMES 5 BEST BOOKS OF 2022BBC CULTURE'S 50 BEST BOOKS OF 2022 LO...
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The Life and Times of Kate Chopin
Golgotha PressKate Chopin considered one of the forerunners of feminist authors; but little has been wrote about her life. This book looks briefly at the life and times of Chopin.
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Patriotic Gore
Edmund WilsonFeaturing critical and biographical portraits of notable figures of the American Civil War, Patriotic Gore remains one of Edmund Wilson's greatest achievements. Considered one of t...
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Works of Kate Chopin
Kate ChopinThis collection was designed for optimal navigation on iPad and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically, chronologically and by category, making it easier to access...
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Kate Chopin and Catholicism
Heather Ostman‘Heather Ostman’s Kate Chopin and Catholicism is meaty, interesting, andprovocative. It may change the way we all read this marvel of a writer.’ Linda WagnerMartin, Professor ...
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The Awakening and Selected Stories
Kate ChopinThe Awakening shocked turnofthecentury readers and reviewers with its treatment of sex and suicide. In a departure from literary convention, Kate Chopin failed to condemn her heroi...
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The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin
Kate ChopinEnriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, ...
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Kate Chopin - Selected Stories
Kate ChopinKATE CHOPIN SELECTED STORIESA Matter of Prejudice Table of contentsA December Day in DixieA Matter of PrejudiceA Pair of Silk StockingsA Respectable WomanAt...
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The Kate Chopin Collection
Kate ChopinKate Chopin is one of the most famous female authors of the 19th century. A native of St.Louis, Missouri, she penned classic stories such as The Awakening. This collection co...
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Complete Realistic Satire of Kate Chopin
Kate ChopinKate Chopin's major works were two short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Her important short stories included "Desiree's Baby", a tale of miscege...
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Summary of The Awakening by Kate Chopin
getAbstract AGKate Chopin’s The Awakening is widely considered one of the most important and beautifully crafted novels of the turn of the 20th century. At the time of its publication in 18...