‘The Awakening’ by Kate Chopin

The Awakening is a novel that was first published in 1899. It tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a twenty-eight-year-old woman and mother of two who—with devastating consequences—rejects her conventional married life for a transgressive path of self-discovery.

Edna is vacationing with her husband and children on the Louisiana Gulf Coast when she meets and falls in love with the passionate, impulsive Robert Lebrun. Afterward, Edna can no longer find meaning and satisfaction in her comfortable domestic life and moves out, alone.

Kate Chopin (1850–1904) is an American author who wrote two published novels and about a hundred short stories in the 1890s. She is often credited for introducing the modern feminist literary movement.

Chopin’s short stories were well received in her own time and were published by some of America’s most prestigious magazines. Her early novel At Fault (1890) had not been much noticed by the public, but The Awakening (1899) was widely condemned. Critics called it morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable. The novel went out of print for more than 50 years and it was rediscovered in the 1950s.

Book discussion: ‘The Awakening’ by Kate Chopin

When: Sunday, November 8th, 2020 at 18:00 (6pm, Madrid local time, GMT+2)

Where: Zoom, online. ID: 727-737-7475

Zoom Meeting ID: 727-737-7475
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/7277377475
Password: cb

Language: English (we’ll debate in English)

Organizer: Andrea Mingorance

Contact: +34 668853320

Mandatory: Read the book