Kate Chopin was one of the most individual and adventurous of nineteenth-century american writers, whose fiction
explored new and often startling territory. When her most famous story, The Awakening, was first published in 1899,
it stunned readers with its frank portrayal of the inner word of Edna Pontellier, and its daring criticisms of
the limits of marriage and motherhood. The subtle beauty of her writing was contrasted with her unwomanly and sordid
subject-matter: Edna's rejection of her domestic role, and her passionate quest for spiritual, sexual, and artistic
freedom.
From her first stories, Chopin was interested in independent characters who challenged convention. This selection,
freshly edited from the first printing of each text, enables readers to follow her unfolding career as she experimented
with a broad range of writing, from tales for children to decadent fin-de siecle sketches. The Awakening is set
alongside thirty-two short stories, illustrating the spectrum of the fiction from her first published stories to
her 1898 secret masterpiece, "The Storm."