Chopin, Kate
Chopin, Kate , née O'Flaherty ( 1850 – 1904 ),daughter of an Irish immigrant father and Creole mother; she was born in St Louis, Missouri, and brought up in a largely female household. She married Oscar Chopin , a Creole, and went to live in New Orleans, Louisiana, spending her summers at Grand Isle, a fashionable resort off the south coast. Her husband's business did not prosper and he returned to the family plantation in the Cane River district, where he died of swamp fever in 1882 , leaving her with six children to support. After paying off his debts she returned to St Louis and began to write, using as material her memories of New Orleans and of Cane River, the latter providing material for three collections of short stories. She was originally acclaimed as a ‘local colourist’, but has posthumously won recognition for The Awakening ( 1899 ), which tells the story of Edna Pontellier, married to a successful ...
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