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Cover of The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Awakening

  • 214 pages · about 4 hours
  • First published 1899
  • 347 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South.

It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.

Good for readers who want: a classic, literary fiction, and a book they can read free online.

  • Classics
  • Literary fiction
  • Relationships
  • Marriage
  • Adultery
  • Feminist literature
  • Interpersonal attraction
  • Married people

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3 About Kate Chopin

1850–1904

Katherine Chopin (, also US: ; née 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 among the most frequently read and recognized writers of Louisiana Creole heritage.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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