My "radio reader" reading of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" debuts next Saturday at 5 pm on WFHB - 91.3, 98.1, 100.7 and 106.3 FM in and around Bloomington, IN.
This classic of feminist literature was published in 1899 and ended Chopin's already long and well-respected literary career. It was called "vile," "depraved," "sordid" and "depressing" by critics, was pulled from libraries, and prevented Chopin's latest collection of short stories from being published.
Having read it several times on the page and all the way through aloud, I think what transgressed the bounds of "good behavior" for literature was that Chopin succeeded in bringing the 19th-century reader into the expanding consciousness of a young woman and mother who discovers that she truly has a self, full of desire and talent and decision, that is separate and alive apart from her husband and children. Chopin's protagonist goes as far as a woman can in that era, and knows she can never go back. It was the "Thelma and Louise" of its day. Give a listen.
Episodes will be archived for download and podcast at WFHB.org.
