Kate Chopin Reconsidered: Beyond the Bayou

by Lynda S. Boren (Editor), Sarah deSaussure Davis (Editor)

Overview

In this indispensable volume, fourteen intellectually compelling essays consider Kate Chopin's life and art from a variety of critical perspectives—biographical, New Historicist, materialist, poststructuralist, feminist—with several of the pieces focusing on Chopin's classic novel, The Awakening.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807166499
Publisher:	Louisiana State University Press
Publication date:	09/01/1999
Series:	Southern Literary Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	437 KB

About the Author

Lynda S. Boren teaches gifted high-school students in Leesville, Louisiana, and is the author of Eurydice Reclaimed: Language, Gender, and Voice in Henry James.
Sara deSaussure Davis, associate professor of American literature and chair of the department of English at the University of Alabama, is coeditor of The Mythologizing of Mark Twain.

Editorial Reviews

This collection of 14 essays purports to analyze Chopin's life and work from biographical, new historicist, materialist, poststructuralist, and feminist perspectives. However, several authors use the ``it means what I say because I say so'' approach to criticism. While there is one good essay, the rest range from poor to mediocre in scholarship and writing. Many are poorly conceived, poorly reasoned, and poorly supported, failing to present solid evidence from Chopin's text. Some are pointless, some contain distortions and misreadings, and one is unintelligible. This collection adds little to our understanding of this important American writer and is not recommended.-- Judy Mimken, Saginaw Valley State Univ., Mich.

Library Journal

Dictionary of characters, places, titles, terms, and people from the life and works of Kate Chopin. Includes her translations of eight stories by deMaupassant and one by Adrien Vely, and concludes with a bibliographical essay by Bonner (English, Xavier U. Louisiana). Fourteen essays consider Chopin's (1851-1904) life and work from a variety of perspectives--biographical, New Historicist, materialist, poststructuralist, feminist. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"The fourteen essays offer striking evidence of the widespread interest in Chopin and the range of critical and theoretical approaches that scholars are employing in analyzing her work. . . . This collection of essays significantly extends Chopin scholarship".

-- Louisiana Literature

From the Publisher