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The Complete Works of Kate Chopin (Southern Literary Studies)

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This is your "one-stop shop" for every single one of Kate Chopin's published works. Large and cumbersome but well worth the weight, it contains all of her fantastic local color stories from her books "A Night in Acadie", "Bayou Folk", and all of her other short stories (including her very first written in childhood), plus the novels "At Fault" and "The Awakening". Most of her work was buried for years and it is difficult and expensive to get all of her wonderful creations, so this is the way to go for the ardent Chopin fan, the Chopin scholar, or anyone that just loves great American literature.(Note:it is also very uncommon to find a place that sells this!)

So many people who have reviewed this anthology of Chopin's works have focused on only one story! "The Story of an Hour" is wonderful, but it's only about 2 pages in this large book. With that said, readers who are coming to Chopin for the first time should keep in mind that the protagonist's inner life is more important that anything else going on in that story. That's why there is so little about what happened before the husband supposedly dies and certainly very little after he arrives home safely. (The spoilers for the ending have already been given by earlier reviewers.) Readers can "get" a lot of it, though, just by reading very carefully. It's a "short" short story, and Chopin makes every word count. If you as a reader don't pay close attention to the words Chopin uses, you will miss the point. So, for someone who says, "I don't understand the story," I would say read it again, but more slowly this time.

The book, of course, has much more to offer than the few pages that "Hour" takes up. One of my favorites is "Desiree's Baby," where Chopin emphasizes character over plot in a story about racial prejudice. I won't tell you how it works out, though. You need to read it for yourself! Spoilers ruin the ends of stories that rely on a twist at the end.

In the late 1800s, Kate Chopin set the literary world on fire with her now-classic novel "The Awakening." But that wasn't by any means the only writing Chopin did. "Complete Novels and Stories" brings together the assorted writings that Chopin did, before le scandale caused her to swear off writing forever.

Her first novel "At Fault" was apparently something of a roman a clef -- a thirtysomething Creole woman is widowed, and takes over the family estate. She falls in love with a businessman, David -- but he is divorced, and her strong Catholic beliefs don't allow her to marry a divorced man.

"Awakening" was the novel that outraged the Victorian morals and sensibilities of the time, and tragically ended Chopin's writing career. Beautiful wife and mother Edna Pontellier has it all: a wealthy husband, cute kids, beautiful house... and yet she is dissatisfied. So Edna begins dabbling in painting and extramarital flirtations, with tragic results.

"Bayou Folk" and a "Night in Acadie" are collections of short stories, centered in New Orleans and the areas of Louisiana nearby. Breakups, romance, death, marital dissatisfaction, freedom, racism and other still-touchy topics are explored in these stories, although bits of humor do intrude from time to time, such as the very short "Old Aunt Peggy," about an ancient black woman who astonishes everyone by never dying. Added on to these are a number of uncollected stories.

It takes a lot to make a book "scandalous" now, but in the late 1800s -- the height of the Victorian era -- it was painfully easy. There's nothing shocking in Chopin's writing by current standards, leaving her writing as a grave look at human nature. In that sense, Chopin's stories are truly timeless, and not just for women.

Continuing themes do run through Chopin's short stories and novels, such as freedom, social boundaries, and the restrictions put on women at the time. One particularly stunning story is "Desiree's Baby," about a young woman and her child who are cast out because the baby is not 100% white... except that her cruel husband has made a mistake.

But it's not nearly as bleak as it sounds -- Chopin's writing is tempered by her dignified, distant 19th-century writing style, and the beauty of her descriptions. ("There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.") Those descriptions can gloss over plot events as grim as suicide.

"Complete Stories and Novels" is an excellent collection of Kate Chopin's work, and leaves one with regret that she didn't get to write even more during her brief lifetime.

Glad that this brilliant writer has had her collection of works put into one book. Long overdue.

I read one of Kate Chopin's stories in an English class, and was struck by her depth of understanding of people, and the beauty of her writing. I read more of her stories in the library, and since every one was good, I decided to purchase an anthology. I did a little research and found out that this book is regarded as the best anthology of her work. It was my 50th birthday gift for myself! I continue to enjoy each story. Many of the stories are short enough to complete in a half hour or less. Infact, one of my favorites so far: "Ripe Figs" is less than one page long. Gorgeous writing...

I fell in love with Kate Chopin's works when I was in Elementary school. I have always been one to read ahead of my age. Kate Chopin is an amazing feminist writer and her works portray her views. Women don't necessarily need men to survive. My absolute most favorite story in this works is "The Story of an Hour". I even did a report on it for the short story section of my Literature class. When I have time to kill, I can always rely on Kate Chopin stories to fill that void!

This story I have read was good. I liked it a lot it was properly worded and used great detail but at the same time it was easy to read and understand. The only thing I honestly didn't like was how short it was it would have been so much better if it was a couple more pages or more of a chapter.
The story was about a woman getting told that her husband was dead and the woman (Mrs. Mallard) was upset for a little until she came to her scenes and realized she was happy.
If you don't want to know the ends don't read any further!

She was happy because for all of her life she felt held down so now she was "free." She was in her house happy that she was free until there was a nock on the door then the sound of the key unlocking the door she came down in shock it was her husband was alive she was not free anymore and she had a heart attack and died.
So the theme of the story is that you shouldn't live in pain and sorrow make it right unless you will die of sadness

The Story of an Hour
By: Kate Chopin


When I first read "The Story of an Hour" I thought it was kind of weird. I kind of like it also because it is very funny to me because of the thing she did when she found out her husband was alive. But anyway here is my summary of that story!
Mrs. Mallard was a very unhappy lady. She was married to Mr. Mallard. He was a very mysterious guy. But we really don't know that much about Mr. Mallard. One lonely day with out Mr. Mallard, Mrs. Mallard's sister came to the door and told her that Mr. Mallard was dead. She started to cry. But then, later on, she got happy. She was relieved that her husband was dead. She wasn't happy at all with him. She was sooo happy!!! But then something happened that she never thought would happen. She came down the stairs and HE walked through the door. She was shocked and had a heart attack. She died.

The story of an hour.

The book I personally thought that is was really good it could have been more descriptive and a lot longer but all and all it was a really good book. The story was short but it got right to the point. And what the story was about.

The story of an hour was about her husband (Mr. Mallard) supposedly died of heart problems. And the wife (Mrs. Mallard) felt like she was tied down and couldn't do anything. She was sad when he first died but she got over herself. She was happy because now she was free!!!! She was finally *free*.

If you don't want to know what happens in the end then don't read no further!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then at the end of the story they actually mixed up the names and her husband was really alive and she was so astonished that she has a heart attack and died!! Yeah pretty lame ending huh? Well that could have been better and longer and more descriptive but other that that it was an excellent story.

That just proves that don't marry anyone that your 100% totally in love with!!!!!! <3

What kind of person would be happy when your husband dies? That is how Mrs. Mallard was acting. Sure she was having afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death. When she was married to him she felt like she wasn't able to be free. So when her husband was dead she thought that she would get her freedom back.
I thought that this was an okay story because I didn't really like how it went but if maybe I knew what was going on in her life of why she felt like she didn't have any freedom and then I might understand why she wanted her husband dead. The story had a very good flow but the story line could have been better.