The Awakening and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics) - Kate Chopin [0]
FROM THE PAGES OF THE AWAKENING
Title Page
Copyright Page
KATE CHOPIN
THE WORLD OF KATE CHOPIN AND THE AWAKENING
Introduction
THE AWAKENING
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
Selected Short Fiction
Emancipation: A Life Fable
A Shameful Affair
One
Two
Three
At the ‘Cadian Ball
Désirée’s Baby
A Gentleman of Bayou Têche
A Respectable Woman
The Story of an Hour
Athénaïse
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
A Pair of Silk Stockings
Elizabeth Stock’s One Story
The Storm - A Sequel to “At the ‘Cadian Ball”
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
The Godmother
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
A Little Country Girl
INSPIRED BY THE AWAKENING
COMMENTS & QUESTIONS
FOR FURTHER READING
FROM THE PAGES OF THE AWAKENING
But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such beginning! How many souls perish in its tumult!
(page 17)
There were days when she was happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day. She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested.
There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. She could not work on such a day, nor weave fancies to stir her pulses and warm her blood.
(pages 67-68)
She felt as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to look upon and comprehend the significance of life, that monster made up of beauty and brutality. But among the conflicting sensations which assailed her, there was neither shame nor remorse. There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips.
(page 97)
She went on and on. She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore. She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believ ing that it had no beginning and no end.
(page 133)
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The Awakening was first published in 1899.
“Emancipation,” “Elizabeth Stock’s One Story,” “The Storm,” and “A Little Country Girl” are reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press from The Complete Works of Kate Chopin, edited by Per Seyersted.
Copyright © 1997 by Louisiana State University Press.
Originally published in mass market format in 2003 by Barnes & Noble Classics with new Introduction, Notes, Biography, Chronology, Inspired By, Comments & Questions, and For Further Reading. This trade paperback edition published in 2005.
Introduction, Notes, and For Further Reading
Copyright @ 2003 by Rachel Adams.
Note on Kate Chopin, The World of Kate Chopin and The Awakening,
Inspired by The Awakening, and Comments & Questions
Copyright © 2003 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or