Archiv der Kategorie: Chopin, Kate

Mrs. Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis. She descends, on her mother’s side, from several of the old French families of primitive St. Louis, and her father, Captain Thomas O’Flaherty, was a wealthy merchant of St. Louis. She graduated at the Sacred Heart Convent, and a few years later married Oscar Chopin of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. They lived on his plantation until his death which occurred several years ago. Her first literary venture, “At Fault”, is a good, homely story, not particularly exciting as to the plot, and somewhat crude at times, but still affording pleasant reading; in no way did it foreshadow her future work. It was published in 1890, in St. Louis. Her next book, “Bayou Folk” (Boston, 1894), consists of a number of short stories and studies of Creole life. The facility and exactness with which Mrs. Chopin handles the Creole dialect, and the fidelity of her descriptions of that strange, remote life in the Louisiana bayous, is remarkable. But she writes of (what she calls) her “own people “, for by inheritance of birth and by marriage, and I may say — by inclination, she is herself, a Creole. Her stories are extremely interesting as studies of life. She has been compared to Mr. Cable, but no two writers could possibly traverse the same ground more at variance with each other. Her touch is far more deft than Mr. Cable’s; her insight is more femininely subtle (if I may use the word); pain, sorrow, affliction, humbled pride, rude heroism — enter more completely into her sympathies. She feels and suffers with her characters. Nor is this strange: she is herself (as I have said before) to the manor born. Not so Mr. Cable. I do not wish to detract one tittle from the just praise I have given him elsewhere, but the soul of sympathy with which Mrs. Chopin overflows is wanting in his pages; we may smile with him, we may laugh with him — even grieve with him — but we are forced to realize, nevertheless, that he lacks that touch of humanity that Brunetiere so justly and so eloquently praises in Thackeray and George Eliot. The critics have not as yet fully understood the excellence of Mrs. Chopin’s work.

A Night In Acadie

Publiziert am 4. Januar 2022 von Jazzybee

A Night In Acadie – Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin, whose stories have deservedly won much praise, has chosen her field among the rural Acadian French of Louisiana, whose patois is not the same as that of the New Orleans Creoles, and whose traditions are quite distinct. This volume is altogether delightful and takes its name, ‘A Night in Acadie’, from the title of the first story. There are twenty-one tales in all.

 

A Night In Acadie

A Night In Acadie.

Format: eBook.

A Night In Acadie.

ISBN: 9783849658854.

 

Excerpt from the text:

 

THERE was nothing to do on the plantation so Telèsphore, having a few dollars in his pocket, thought he would go down and spend Sunday in the vicinity of … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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At Fault

Publiziert am 4. Januar 2022 von Jazzybee

At Fault – Kate Chopin

The scene of ” At Fault ” is laid in Louisiana , and the creole dialect used by Thérèse and her friends is much more agreeable than the slang indulged in by the wealthy St . Louis women. The tale has a somewhat pleasant flavor, and the local color seems to be well preserved. The story ends happily in the orthodox fashion.

 

At Fault

At Fault.

Format: eBook.

At Fault.

ISBN: 9783849658847.

 

Excerpt from the text:

 

“You got to set mighty still in this pirogue,” said Grégoire, as with a long oar-stroke he pulled out into mid stream.

“Yes, I know,” answered Melicent complacently, arranging herself opposite him in the long narrow boat: all … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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Bayou Folk

Publiziert am 30. September 2021 von Jazzybee

Bayou Folk – Kate Chopin

A pretty book of tales drawn from life among the Creoles and Acadians of Louisiana. They represent with fidelity and spirit characters and customs unfamiliar to most readers ; they are admirably told, with just enough dialect for local color; and they can hardly fail to be very popular. Some of these stories are little more than croquis – just a brief incident of idea sketched in with a few rapid strokes and left to the imagination of the reader to be materialized, if we may so speak. Others are longer and more finished, but all are full of that subtle, alien quality which holds the Creole apart from the Anglo-Saxon – a quality we … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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The Awakening

Publiziert am 15. Dezember 2017 von Jazzybee

The Awakening – Kate Chopin

Mrs. Chopin’s most ambitious work, and that by many regarded as her greatest achievement, is ‘The Awakening’. It was written in the belief that in this larger form she could best develop the qualities of her talent. The book shows breadth of view, sincerity, art of the finest kind, a deep knowledge of the woman soul, and accurate individualized character delineation. Edna, the wife of Leonce Pontellier, and mother of two children, is aroused by the simple love of a young Creole to the knowledge of demands in her rich passionate nature that cannot be satisfied by her wifely and maternal duties. Without a fitting education she tries to realize her self at the expense … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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