The Awakening is a short novel by Kate Chopin, published in 1899. It’s the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother who struggles with these roles in the rigid social milieu of late-19th-century New Orleans.

Kate Chopin’s untimely death just a few years after The Awakening‘s publication hastened  the silencing of this exquisite work along with most of the rest of this talented author’s life and work.

The Awakening  was rediscovered and republished in the late 1960s and now holds a secure place as a classic in American literature and a staple of feminist studies.

More about The Awakening on this site:

• Quotes from The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin: An Analysis
• Willa Cather’s Review of The Awakening (1899)

Following is the text in its entirety. The Awakening is in the public domain.

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