The Never-Ending Stories
That question of individual responsibility is one that carries through to some of Chopin's other stories, which are largely collected in two volumes: "Bayou Folk" (1894) and "A Night in Acadie" (1897). Filled with humor, she offers many gentle portrayals of love, hate, death, madness, and vignettes related to a devastated South.Lest we forget, Chopin did live through the Civil War. But, even though she didn't start writing her stories or novels until after the war was long-since past, she couldn't help but feel (and internalize) the devastating after-effects of battle--both on the individual and on the landscape. Her half-brother, George, was a Confederate soldier until he died from typhoid fever, so the war hit a bit closer to home for Chopin.
Through her stories, Chopin redraws racial and cultural lines, presenting new realities. She reaches deep into her characters to show how dreams have been lost, hearts are broken, and then there's the time after the war.
For some, the past can be put aside. A lost soldier comes home at last in "A Wizard from Gettysburg." And, in "Ma'ame Pélagie," Chopin writes about a woman who spent her whole life in an attempt to recover the past. Then she gives it all up because she must live in the present, after all. Chopin writes: "It was not the first time she had stolen away to the ruin at night-time... but she never before had been there with a heart so nearly broken. She was going there for the last time to dream her dreams; to see the visions that hitherto had crowded her days and nights, and to bid them farewell."
We get brief glimpses of people at their most vulnerable moments: the time when madness descends, when illusions are revealed, and mistaken information invokes death... For some, a numbing silence descends, perhaps in some small way to help the person with the process of coping. In "A Night in Acadie," we read about Zaïde's lost love: "An illusion had gone from her, and had carried her love with it. The absence of regret revealed this to her. She realized, but could not comprehend it, not knowing that the love has been part of the illusion."
We get brief glimpses of people at their most vulnerable moments: the time when madness descends, when illusions are revealed, and mistaken information invokes death... For some, a numbing silence descends, perhaps in some small way to help the person with the process of coping. In "A Night in Acadie," we read about Zaïde's lost love: "An illusion had gone from her, and had carried her love with it. The absence of regret revealed this to her. She realized, but could not comprehend it, not knowing that the love has been part of the illusion."
Final Awakenings...
Chopin further explores the theme of illusion and reality in her final novel, The Awakening. The story of Edna Pontellier was criticized as immoral, vulgar, morbid, and was even called "sex fiction." Willa Cather called the book "a Creole Bovary," and said, "next time I hope that Miss Chopin will devote that flexible iridescent style of hers to a better cause." Influenced by French writers like Gustave Flaubert, Chopin defended her novel: "I never dreamed of Mrs. Pontellier making such a mess of things and working out her own damnation as she did. If I had the slightest intimation of such a thing I would have excluded her from the company. But, when I found out what she was up to, the play was half over and it was too late."By exploring Edna's life and death, Chopin was breaking down barriers, challenging beliefs and conceptions of marriage, love, happiness, and even the very presence of being.
After the uproar that ended Chopin's career, she was banned from an arts club and she lost friends. Although there is some debate about how serious the "book banning" of The Awakening really was, it's certain that the book and its author were almost forgotten. Rediscovered in the 1960s and 1970s, Chopin's scandalous novel is now considered an important classic.
The Awakening is now recognized as an indispensable addition to the ranks of feminist literature. Chopin offers a glimpse into solitude that goes far beyond simply being alone. She writes: "The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abyss of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation." The sea is seductive, calling to Edna until finally she listens to the voice of the sea: "She grew daring and reckless, over-estimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swam before."
In the end, it is Kate Chopin who swam out in the sea of literature. She was lost there... and was almost forgotten. Now, Library of America brings the remnants of Kate Chopin's works back to life, allowing us to read never-before-seen works.
The Awakening is now recognized as an indispensable addition to the ranks of feminist literature. Chopin offers a glimpse into solitude that goes far beyond simply being alone. She writes: "The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abyss of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation." The sea is seductive, calling to Edna until finally she listens to the voice of the sea: "She grew daring and reckless, over-estimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swam before."
In the end, it is Kate Chopin who swam out in the sea of literature. She was lost there... and was almost forgotten. Now, Library of America brings the remnants of Kate Chopin's works back to life, allowing us to read never-before-seen works.
