Kate Chopin in Context: New Approaches (American Literature Readings in the 21st Century)

Featuring essays by scholars from around the globe, Kate Chopin in Context revitalizes discussions on the famed 19th-century author of The Awakening . Expanding the horizons of Chopin's influence, contributors offer readers glimpses into the multi-national appreciation and versatility of the author's works, including within the classroom setting. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: Kate Chopin in Context: New Approaches....Pages 1-11 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 Chopin’s Enlightened Men....Pages 15-27 Kate Chopin and the Dilemma of Individualism....Pages 29-46 “A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her”: The Legal Climate at the Time of “Désirée’s Baby”....Pages 47-64 The Gothic in Kate Chopin....Pages 65-82 The Pleasures of Music: Kate Chopin’s Artistic and Sensorial Synesthesia....Pages 83-100 Maternity vs. Autonomy in Chopin’s “Regret”....Pages 101-115 Front Matter....Pages 117-117 The “I Hate Edna Club”....Pages 119-122 Pioneering Kate Chopin’s Feminism: Elizabeth Stoddard’s The Morgesons as Patchwork Precursor to The Awakening....Pages 123-143 “I’m So Happy; It Frightens Me”: Female Genealogy in the Fiction of Kate Chopin and Pauline Hopkins....Pages 145-158 American Refusals: A Continuum of “I Prefer Not Tos” as Articulated in the Work of Chopin, Hawthorne, Harper, Atherton, and Dreiser....Pages 159-172 What Did She Die of? “The Story of an Hour” in the Middle East Classroom....Pages 173-185 Teaching Kate Chopin Using Multimedia....Pages 187-202 Back Matter....Pages 203-216 While Kate Chopin, famed writer of The Awakening, has received considerable scholarly attention over the years, little scholarship has focused on her twenty-first century impact, particularly on the global level. Kate Chopin in Context: New Approaches revisits familiar themes, establishes new themes, and brings theory to practice in classroom settings, where so many encounter Chopin as readers and as teachers. Notably, the collection includes essays from around the globe, written by scholars from North America, South America, Europe, and the Middle East, offering readers glimpses into the multi-national appreciation and versatility of the author's work. Other topics include technological applications to teaching Chopin, Gender Studies, and historical and legal contexts, among many others. In turn, this much-needed collection reiterates and reinvigorates Kate Chopin's relevance and ultimately her influence on the history of American writing. -- from back cover