Where to Get Started with Kate Chopin's Short Stories
Happy birthday, Kate Chopin! The author of The Awakening (1899) and one of the first feminist novelists in America was born on this day in 1850 in St. Louis. While Chopin was largely unappreciated in her time—often degraded by critics for her choice to explore themes of female independence, sexuality, and empowerment—her writing was later recognized as being ahead of its time in the 20th century, and Chopin scholarship has expanded greatly since then. Most readers know her for the pre-modernist masterpiece The Awakening, which tells the story of Edna Pontellier, an unhappy wife and mother from New Orleans. But before she published that novel, Chopin was better known as a writer of short stories.If you're curious about where to start with Kate Chopin's short fiction—which is available at the Library in this collection—let us point you in the right direction.
Kate Chopin's house in Cloutierville, Louisiana.
"Her Letters," 1895
An unnamed woman dies, leaving her husband a parcel of letters and a note asking him, on good faith, to destroy them without looking at their contents. This intense and haunting story perfectly demonstrates how women, deprived of social freedom in the late 19th century, were subject to pain that had a rippling effect on families and marriages, even after their deaths.
"The Story of an Hour," 1894
Perhaps Chopin's best-known short story, "The Story of an Hour" relates the feelings of Mrs. Mallard immediately after hearing the news of her husband's death. This striking tale, which might today be called a piece of flash fiction, is notable for its deep dive into the mental workings of a new widow. It's a subject Chopin knew quite a bit about: she herself was widowed in 1890.
A Vogue magazine cover from 1894. Throughout the 1890's, Vogue published 19 of Chopin's short stories. Image via Conde Nast.
"The Storm," 1898
This passionate story about a sexual encounter between two married people in the midst of a violent Louisiana storm is one of the few that was only published posthumously, in 1969. Erotic and forceful, this story is a fascinating character study of two lovers who are ostensibly happily married to other people. Chopin also wrote a prequel to this story, "At the 'Cadian Ball," which details some of the history between her two protagonists.
"Desiree's Baby," 1893
"Desiree's Baby," Chopin's most direct treatment of Southern racism, tells the story of an interracial marriage in antebellum Louisiana. This is one of Chopin's sharpest and most ironic tales—the ending is devastating, so we won't give it away— and it's definitely worth a read.
Kate Chopin's Library Walk plaque.
"A Respectable Woman," 1894
When Mrs. Baroda, the wife of a wealthy plantation owner, falls madly in love with her husband's college friend, she is torn between her desire and her need to preserve her reputation and respectability. This tricky story is full of the Chopin's skill with ambiguity, intricacy, and complex portrayal of female characters, which was uncommon for her time period.
Remember, all these short stories can be found here, plus other Kate Chopin stories are collected in this volume. Do you have any other favorite Chopin tales? Let us know in the comments!