Awakening

It was one afternoon in April, not long ago, only the other day, and the shadows had already begun to lengthen. 

Bertrand Delmandé, a fine, bright-looking boy of fourteen years, fifteen, perhaps, -was mounted, and riding along a pleasant country road, upon a little Creole pony, such as boys in Louisiana usually ride when they have nothing better at hand. He had hunted, and carried his gun before him. 

It is unpleasant to state that Bertrand was not so depressed as he should have been, in view of recent events that had come about. Within the past week he had been recalled from the college of Grand Coteau to his home, the Bon-Accueil plantation. 

He had found his father and his grandmother depressed over money matters, awaiting certain legal developments that might result in his permanent withdrawal from school. That very day, directly after the early dinner, the two had driven to town, on this very business, to be absent till the late afternoon. Bertrand, then, had saddled Picayune and gone for a long jaunt, such as his heart delighted in.

Bayou Folk

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.

The Awakening - and selected Short Stories

'At night, among the reeds on the bayou, Chicot could still hear the woman's wail, mingled now with the croaking of the frogs...'   From one of the most daring writers of  fin-de-siecle  America, five stories of awakening that range from Louisiana's plantations and poverty-stricken bayous to its gilded cities.  Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday.  Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries.  They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe.  Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.  Kate Chopin (1850-1904).   The Awakening and Selected Stories  and  At Faul t are available in Penguin Classics.

Pair of silk stockings, a

Con straordinaria sensibilità Kate Chopin ricostruisce in un questo romanzo, diventato ormai un classico della letteratura mondiale, il cammino di liberazione di una giovane donna alle prese con il conformismo della società. Siamo in Louisiana, in uno degli stabilimenti balneari dove le famiglie e i giovani rampolli della buona società trascorrono le vacanze. È un mondo statico, ossessionato da rigide convenzioni. Così lo vede Edna Pontellier, moglie di un uomo d'affari di New Orleans e madre di due figli. Ma Edna improvvisamente si rende conto di aver vissuto fino a quel momento schiava delle apparenze e percepisce la distanza che la separa dall'ambiente asfittico della borghesia creola. Inizia così un cammino personale di risveglio fisico e spirituale, che la porterà a sfidare i ruoli imposti e a ricercare nel mondo quel profondo senso di libertà cui anela.

Il risveglio

En Louisiane à la fin du XIXe siècle la vie est paisible : villas du bord de mer, soirées musicales, robes de mousseline et enfants sages. Aux yeux d'Edna, cette quiétude confine à la torpeur. Une émotion amoureuse, un parfum enivrant et la vie change de registre. C'est "l'éveil". La jeune femme découvre son goût de vivre, sa créativité, son corps, elle-même en somme. Découverte qui ne va pas sans poser de problème dans l'Amérique de ces années-là; pour l'héroïne du roman et pour l'auteur, dont l'oeuvre fut jugée scandaleuse, dénoncée par la presse et mise au ban des librairies de Saint-Louis. Il faudra attendre les années soixante pour que Kate Chopin trouve sa place parmi les grands classiques de la littérature américaine.

L'Éveil

Eh bien, il va falloir se faire une raison : l'Américain-type, ça n'existe pas ! Tant pis pour la belle ordonnance des idées toutes faites ; d'un Américain à l'autre, le caractère, les mours, la stature même diffèrent. Bien sûr il existe, chez tous les habitants du Nouveau Monde, certains éléments qui constituent le caractère national, mais ces éléments sont amalgamés diversement selon les racines de l'individu, l'ancienneté de sa migration, selon surtout qu'il habite le vieux Nord-Est, le Sud, l'Ouest ou le Middle West. C'est ce qui ressort des treize nouvelles ici réunies, Toutes, sauf deux, ont été écrites pendant les décennies qui ont suivi la guerre de Sécession, en une période où le pays avait besoin de redécouvrir son identité, de concilier les mirages du passé et les réalités du présent... A ce moment-là plus que jamais, la littérature régionale, fondée sur des valeurs intactes, sûres, facilement reconnaissables, avait un rôle à jouer. Sans doute ces récits reflètent-ils leur époque, mais on y sent percer déjà une littérature de fiction plus complexe et plus élaborée : celle de l'Amérique contemporaine, qui a su si bien assimiler, pour des buts qui lui sont propres, accents régionaux et couleurs locales.

Couleurs locales - 13 nouvelles régionales américaines

When first published in 1899, The Awakening shocked readers with its honest treatment of female marital infidelity. Audiences accustomed to the pieties of late Victorian romantic fiction were taken aback by Chopin's daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage, who seeks and finds passionate physical love outside the confines of her domestic situation.Aside from its unusually frank treatment of a then-controversial subject, the novel is widely admired today for its literary qualities. Edmund Wilson characterized it as a work "quite uninhibited and beautifully written, which anticipates D. H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity." Although the theme of marital infidelity no longer shocks, few novels have plumbed the psychology of a woman involved in an illicit relationship with the perception, artistry, and honesty that Kate Chopin brought to The Awakening.

Awakening

Résumé

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