Kate Chopin

- Kate Chopin -

Katherine O'Flaherty (February 8, 1851–August 22, 1904), known by her married name Kate Chopin, was an American author of short stories and novels.

She married Oscar Chopin on June 9, 1870 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Her best-known work, The Awakening, is the story of a dissatisfied wife who explores her sexuality. It was published in 1899, was out of print for several decades, and is now readily available.

In 1900 she wrote The Gentleman from New Orleans, and that year was listed in the first edition of Who's Who.

Kate Chopin died of a brain hemorrhage and was interred in the Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.

Chronology

Early Childhood

1850 or 1851 (Date uncertain but most likely 1850): Kate O'Flaherty is born in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. Her mother, Eliza, is a well-connected member of the French Creole community. Her father, Thomas, is a very successful businessman who has immigrated from Ireland.

1855 (Age 5): Kate's father, Thomas O'Flaherty, dies. As a founder of the Pacific Railroad, he is aboard the inaugural trip when a bridge across the Gasconade River collapses and Thomas and others are killed. Kate enters the St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart.

Youth

1855 - 1863 (Age 5 - 13): Kate develops intimate relationships with her mother and great-grandmother. She reads fairy tales, poetry, religious allegories, and classic and contemporary novels. Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens are favorites.

1863 (Age 13): Kate's great-grandmother dies. Also, her half brother, George, a Confederate soldier, dies of typhoid fever as a prisoner of war. Kate drops out of regular schooling and retreats to a favorite spot in the house attic under a stepladder and reads continuously.

1865 - 1868 (Age 15 - 18): Kate re-enrolls in formal schooling, returning ultimately to the Sacred Heart Academy. She begins keeping a commonplace book. When she graduates from Sacred Heart Academy in 1868, she has worked hard in school but not achieved any particular distinction--except as a master storyteller.

Young Adulthood

1868 - 1870 (Age 18 - 20): Kate becomes a high-society belle in St. Louis. She is known for her wit. She devotes much time to music. On a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana, she meets and is greatly influenced by a very independent woman singer and actress. She writes "Emancipation: A Life Fable" based upon her New Orleans experiences. During these years, she begins to question the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, especially in matters concerning gender roles. She begins smoking tobacco.

Marriage and Children

1870 (Age 20): Kate marries Oscar Chopin, a member of the St. Louis French Creole community who is working in a bank. They honeymoon in Germany, Switzerland, and France, but have to return to America early because of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war. Kate keeps a journal. Both of Oscar's parents die that year.

1870 - 1879 (Age 20 - 29): Kate and Oscar move to New Orleans where Oscar eventually enters the cotton business as a "factor". Kate's independence grows, including the unheard-of practice of walking unaccompanied throughout the city. She witnesses racial confrontations and organized terrorism against blacks. During this period, she has five sons and one daughter while remaining active in the city's social life. Summers are spent at Grand Isle, a resort community on the Gulf of Mexico. Kate's brother, Thomas O'Flaherty, is killed in a buggy accident in 1873.

1879 - 1882 (Age 29 - 32): Oscar's cotton brokerage fails and the family moves to Cloutierville, Louisiana to manage several small plantations and a general store. They become active in the community, and Kate absorbs much material for her future writing, especially regarding the Cajun culture of the area.

1882 - 1884 (Age 32 - 34): Oscar dies of swamp fever and leaves Kate $12,000 in debt (approximately $200,000 in 1990 dollars). Kate attempts to manage the plantations and store alone but with little success. She has an affair with a passionate though married farmer. Her mother implores her to move back to St. Louis.

1884 (Age 34): Kate and the children move to her grandmother's home in St. Louis.

Regrouping

1884 - 1888 (Age 34 - 38): Kate suffers a nervous breakdown and the doctor suggests she consider writing as a way to calm herself. (Her mother dies in 1885.) Kate and the children gradually settle into life in St. Louis where she needs no longer be concerned about money. She is able to read more.

The Writing Years

1888 - 1902 (Age 38 - 42): Kate reads much. She writes short stories, articles, and translations which appear in periodicals, most notably Atlantic Monthly, Criterion, Harper's Young People, The Saint Louis Dispatch, and Vogue. She becomes known as a regional local-color writer, but her literary qualities are overlooked. In 1899, her second novel, The Awakening, is published to much outrage and harsh criticism based upon moral, rather than literary, standards. Kate, deeply discouraged but not defeated, returns to short story writing.

Death

1904 (Age 42): Kate collapses while visiting the St. Louis World's Fair and dies two days later of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Works

• at Wikisource