The Awakening

This revision of a widely adopted critical edition presents the 1969 Seyersted text of Kate Chopin's novel along with critical essays—newly commissioned or revised for students —that read The Awakening from five contemporary critical perspectives:

Feminist Criticism by Elaine Showalter

The New Historicism by Margit Stange

Gender Criticism by Elizabeth LeBlanc

Deconstruction by Patricia S. Yaeger

Reader-Response Criticism by Paula A. Treichler

A sixth essay by Cynthia Griffin Wolff demonstrates how several critical perspectives can be combined.

Each critical essay is accompanied by a succinct introduction to the history, principles, and practice of the critical perspective, and by a bibliography that promotes further exploration of that approach. The text and essays are complemented by an introduction to biographical and historical contexts of The Awakening, a survey of critical responses to the novel since its initial publication, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.