From Publishers Weekly
Widely admired today for her sensitive portrayals of women whose desires transgressed accepted norms, and for her wry commentary on the institution of marriage, turn-of-the-century author Kate Chopin was viewed by her contemporaries as an iconoclast, and they alternately praised and reviled her fiction. In this lively biography, Toth (LSU professor and author of Kate Chopin's Private Papers and Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia) presents strong evidence that the groundbreaking, unconventional qualities of Chopin's fiction derive less from feminist conviction than from the unconventional nature of Chopin's own life. Telling the "true story of a St. Louis society belle who... became the author of the most radical American novel of the 1890s" (that is, 1899's The Awakening), Toth argues that, as the child of a Creole mother and a first-generation Irish father, as a St. Louis "Yankee" who spent much of her adult life in New Orleans and rural Louisiana, and particularly as a girl who grew up in a house full of strong women and who was never subjected to the will of a male authority figure (her father died when she was five), Chopin was simply acclimated to unconventional perspectives on female destiny and traditional cultural values. But as inattentive as she may have been to the dictates of "proper" femininityAshe smoked cigarettes in public, for example, and was a shrewd business womanAeven Chopin recognized the need to restrain the more flagrantly "improper" themes of her fiction, and here Toth is particularly insightful. Ably blending biographical information with pithy analysis of Chopin's fiction, this book makes a convincing case for the writer's life as her richest source of material and inspiration. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Published on the centennial of The Awakening, Toths insightful biography of Kate Chopin uses recently discovered manuscripts to give us the sharpest picture yet of this daring artist, bent on a career as a professional writer with unpopular and unsettling views on marriage. Toth, a leading Chopin scholar, has built her biography on new inquiries: Why did Chopin do what she did? How did she become her true self? Toth credits the French women of Chopins family with nurturing her independence and helping her repudiate the innocence (ignorance) that was thought to be a feminine virtue. Toth gives us a Chopin who preferred to be solitary but who also raised six children, outlived her husband, Oscar, participated in social and literary clubs, and saw herself as a contributing member of the national literary community, even when her masterpiece, The Awakening, received wretched reviews. Toth pays particular attention to the connections between the individuals in Chopins life and the characters in her fiction. A definitive biography.Charles Crawford Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MOCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


About the Author
Toth, Emily, a professor of English and Women's Studies at Louisiana State University, is the author or editor of ten books, including Kate Chopin's Private Papers, "A Vocation and a Voice": Stories by Kate Chopin, and Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A vivid, new portrait of the author of The Awakening on the 100th anniversary of its publication This is the true, unvarnished life story of the girl who grew up to write The Awakening, a masterpiece published 100 years ago. With its portrayal of a woman whose sexual desires take her outside marriage, it rocked American literature's cozy conception of womanhood. In Unveiling Kate Chopin Emily Toth, the foremost authority on Chopin's life and works, creates a sharply revealing portrait of a modern woman in a Victorian world. Born in St. Louis in 1850, Kate O'Flaherty was raised by wealthy, feisty widows, and educated by brilliant nuns. She endured a mysterious "outrage" committed against her by Union soldiers in her teens and suffered what moderns now call a "loss of voice." But she survived to become a lively, dangerously clever social observer. She had the talent and then the life experiences to become a writer. Her Louisiana-born husband, Oscar Chopin, had grown up in France and did not restrict her. In New Orleans (where she gossiped with the painter Edgar Degas) and then in rural Louisiana (where the neighbors hated her), Kate produced six children in nine years. Yet she retained her individuality and her wicked sense of humor. After her husband's sudden death, Kate's affair with another woman's husband was a village scandal—but following the lessons of the French women who raised her, she knew when to leave. After the death of her mother, Kate reinvented herself as the author of engaging short stories set in Louisiana. Many had unusual social messages. "In Sabine" opposed domestic violence. "At the 'Cadian Ball" supported sexual expression for women. "OdalieMisses Mass" suggested that interracial friendships between African-American and white women were possible. She condemned the idle rich and celebrated single mothers. To promote her own career, she created the first salon in St. Louis and became the first woman in the city to become a professional fiction writer. Although she claimed to be un-serious about her craft, newly discovered manuscripts, which Toth mines for the insights they offer, reveal her as a dedicated artist who wanted to reach her readers' hearts. Toth portrays Chopin as a bright, ambitious woman who ruffled staid souls, and when she published The Awakening, her foes pounced. Many reviews of the novel were uncomprehending; many were vicious and her next book was canceled. Her family suffered; her health declined; and Chopin died in 1904, silenced ahead of her time. Now, a century later, Toth sees Chopin as a woman of unique wit and astonishing talent and as the daring author who wrote the most radical, notorious American novel of the late nineteenth century. 6 x 9 in., 232 pages (approx.), introduction, chronology, bibliography, index

SYNOPSIS

Emily Toth is the foremost scholar of Kate Chopin's writings. In its comprehensive sweep Toth's Unveiling Kate Chopin becomes the definitive biography of the author, whose novel The Awakening is one of the most widely taught novels in women's studies programs. Using recently discovered manuscripts, Toth gives new insights into Chopin's life and literary art. Toth is an

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Times Book Review

Since...Chopin was shaped almost exclusively by female influences...Toth...views the parallel as a key to Chopin's inner life.

NY Times Book Review

Since...Chopin was shaped almost exclusively by female influences...Toth...views the parallel as a key to Chopin's inner life.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Toth's examination of the roots of Chopin's art islike her art itselfa long overdue awakening.

Library Journal