The Awakening
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.
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3recommend
4mentions
4people
2018–2020years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- A couple immediately come to mind: “A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving and “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. When I first encountered “A Prayer for Owen Meany” I was struggling with my religious faith and my identity. A lot of the relationships and events in the book mirrored people and experiences in my own life. Beyond being a great work of literary fiction, it helped me work through what I was dealing with and has been cathartic to return to in the years since.
“The Awakening” has been one of the more empathy expanding things I’ve read. The protagonist’s perspective and plight are resonant today. The tragedy of that story - both in its specific outcome and as generalizable for society at large - affected me a lot and has stayed with me for decades.
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
It’s one of the few books I can read over and over again without feeling bored.
I’m not sure why I like it. I wish I could give some kind of all-encompassing philosophy about it. I just read it and feel understood.
And that’s more than enough for me.
- I’ve spent the year producing and proofing a bunch more PD books for Standard Ebooks.[1] I keep the full set of books I’ve produced on my site[2]; highlights for me from this year were:
The Little Demon by Fyodor Sologub https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/fyodor-sologub/the-little-...
The Awakening by Kate Chopin https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/kate-chopin/the-awakening
Wilfred Owen’s poetry https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/wilfred-owen/poetry
- Interesting little piece of trivia. I'm on vacation and just finished reading The Sun Also Rises 2 days ago and I'm now reading "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin and just encountered this passage:
"They became intimate and friendly by imperceptible degrees, and then by leaps."
Which reads very similar to the Hemmingway passage. Maybe he stole it ;)
