ENGL 1302 - Charles Miller's class: Circulating Books for Chopin

This is the true, unvarnished life story of the girl who grew up to write The Awakening, a masterpiece published 100 years ago. With its portrayal of a woman whose sexual desires take her outside marriage, it rocked American literature's cozy conception of womanhood. In Unveiling Kate Chopin Emily Toth, the foremost authority on Chopin's life and works, creates a sharply revealing portrait of a modern woman in a Victorian world. Born in St. Louis in 1850, Kate O'Flaherty was raised by wealthy, feisty widows and educated by brilliant nuns. She endured a mysterious "outrage" committed against her by Union soldiers in her teens and suffered what moderns now call a "loss of voice." But she survived to become a lively, dangerously clever social observer. She had the talent and then the life experiences to become a writer. Her Louisiana-born husband, Oscar Chopin, had grown up in France and did not restrict her. In New Orleans (where she gossiped with the painter Edgar Degas) and then in rural Louisiana (where the neighbors hated her), Kate produced six children in nine years. Yet she retained her individuality and her wicked sense of humor. After her husband's sudden death, Kate's affair with another woman's husband was a village scandal--but following the lessons of the French women who raised her, she knew when to leave. After the death of her mother, Kate reinvented herself as the author of engaging short stories set in Louisiana. Many had unusual social messages. "In Sabine" opposed domestic violence. "At the 'Cadian Ball" supported sexual expression for women. "Odalie Misses Mass" suggested that interracial friendships between African American and white women were possible. She condemned the idle rich and celebrated single mothers. To promote her own career, she created the first salon in St. Louis and became the first woman in the city to become a professional fiction writer. Although she claimed to be un-serious about her craft, newly discovered manuscripts, which Toth mines for the insights they offer, reveal her as a dedicated artist who wanted to reach her readers' hearts. Toth portrays Chopin as a bright, ambitious woman who ruffled staid souls, and when she published The Awakening, her foes pounced. Many reviews of the novel were uncomprehending; many were vicious and her next book was canceled. Her family suffered; her health declined; and Chopin died in 1904, silenced ahead of her time. Now, a century later, Toth sees Chopin as a woman of unique wit and astonishing talent and as the daring author who wrote the most radical, notorious American novel of the late nineteenth century. Emily Toth, a professor of English and Women's Studies at Louisiana State University, is the author or editor of ten books, including Kate Chopin's Private Papers, "A Vocation and a Voice": Stories by Kate Chopin, and Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia.

“The best synthesis of currents in women's history. ...Harris's material on women in the professions is cogently and intelligently presented....This thoughtful, well-reasoned study should become one of the standard histories in the field.”– Journal of American History

The 19th century has been referred to as the Woman's Century, and it was a period of amazing change and progress for American women. There were great leaps forward in women's legal status, their entrance into higher education and the professions, and their roles in public life. In addition, approximately two million African American female slaves gained their freedom. The book examines how economic, political, and social factors in the United States affected women's roles and how women helped shape history. women's experiences of living in the 19th century. While the dominant ideas about appropriate gender roles originated from within the white Protestant and primarily middle-class culture, each chapter compares those ideas with the reality of different women's daily lives, integrating information on European American, African American, Native American, and immigrant women, and women of different socioeconomic and religious backgrounds and regions.

<p>This is a concise yet comprehensive treatment of the American short story that includes an historical overview of the topic as well as discussion of notable American authors and individual stories, from Benjamin Franklin's "The Speech of Miss Polly Baker" in 1747 to "The Joy Luck Club".</p> <ul> <li>Includes a selection of writers chosen not only for their contributions of individual stories but for bodies of work that advanced the boundaries of short fiction, including Washington Irving, Sarah Orne Jewett, Stephen Crane, Jamaica Kincaid, and Tim O'Brien</li> <li>Addresses the ways in which American oral storytelling and other narrative traditions were integral to the formation and flourishing of the short story genre</li> <li>Written in accessible and engaging prose for students at all levels by a renowned literary scholar to illuminate an important genre that has received short shrift in scholarly literature of the last century</li> <li>Includes a glossary defining the most common terms used in literary history and in critical discussions of fiction, and a bibliography of works for further study</li> </ul>

Great literature resonates with us not only because of well-developed characters and plots, but also because it often reflects important social themes; these books explore a work of literature through the lens of the major issue reflected in it.; Volume coverage includes --an examination of Chopin's life and work --a look at key ideas related to The Awakening -for example, were Chopin's literary influences European? Is there a conflict between female sexuality and the role of motherhood? Is Edna'; This series brings together the disciplines of sociology and literature in a unique format designed to support cross-curricular studies. Each volume explores a work of literature through the lens of the major social issue reflected in it, and features car