Although she enjoyed only modest success during her lifetime, Kate Chopin is now recognised as a unique voice in American literature. Her seminal novel, The Awakening, published in 1899, explored new and startling territory, and stunned readers with its frank depiction of the limits of marriage and motherhood. Chopin's aesthetic tastes and cultural influences were drawn from both the European and American traditions, and her manipulation of her 'foreignness' contributed to the composition of a complex voice that was strikingly different to that of her contemporaries. The essays in this Companion treat a wide range of Chopin's stories and novels, drawing her relationship with other writers, genres and literary developments, and pay close attention to the transatlantic dimension of her work. The result is a collection that brings a fresh perspective to Chopin's writing, one that will appeal to researchers and students of American, nineteenth-century, and feminist literature.

'This is a rich and comprehensive volume. The ten essays include helpful overviews, like those of veteran Chopin scholars Bernard Koloski and Emily Toth and Janet Beer's lively prologue. While these essays track mostly familiar territory, they also provide nuanced critical introductions to the many new readers who continue to be charmed by Chopin's fictions. But these essays also open new terrain in Chopin studies … good stories, literary craft, and social consciousness - ought to guarantee Kate Chopin at least another century or two of readers and critics. And Janet Beer's fine collection of essays indicates just how interesting the reading will continue to be.'

Source: American Studies