Kate Chopin (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

Growing up in a family of independent females, Kate O’Flaherty Chopin learned early about women who chose freedom over security, independence over convention. Toth’s interviews have revealed that after the death of Chopin’s husband in 1882—perhaps while he was still alive—Kate, too, rejected societal norms, carrying on an affair with Albert Sampite of Cloutierville, Louisiana. Sampite later served as the model for several of Chopin’s characters, including the two lovers of Edna Pontellier, the heroine of THE AWAKENING. In 1884, Chopin ended the relationship and returned to her native St. Louis, where, encouraged by Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer, a family friend, she began to write professionally. During the 1890’s her stories appeared in leading magazines, and at the end of the decade she published her masterpiece, THE AWAKENING, detailing a woman’s disillusionment with her safe but boring marriage. Love affairs also fail to fulfill Edna, who chooses self-sufficiency and suicide.

Toth demolishes the myth that THE AWAKENING was banned, and she shows that Chopin continued to write even after the novel received generally negative reviews. Magazines were, however, wary of Chopin after the appearance of that work, and Chopin apparently stopped writing after 1902.

The biography is enhanced by twenty-two black-and-white photographs, most of them of Chopin herself. Also included are a useful chronology and bibliography, indicating when each work was written and published. The eighty pages of notes reflect Toth’s meticulous research, but she wears her learning lightly. The result is a study that will charm the general reader and enlighten students of Kate Chopin.

Sources for Further Study

Booklist. LXXXVII, October 1, 1990, p.248.

Boston Globe. December 9, 1990, p. 13.

Chicago Tribune. December 16, 1990, XIV, p.6.

Library Journal. CXV, October 15, 1990, p.89.

Los Angeles Times. November 30, 1990, p. E14.

The New York Times. November 27, 1990, p. C 19.

The New York Times Book Review. December 30, 1990, p.10.

Publishers Weekly. CCXXXVII, October 12, 1990, p.52.

The Times-Picayune. November 18, 1990, p. E7.

The Washington Post Book World. XX, November 25, 1990, p.3.

Washington Times. December 3, 1990, p. F1.