Kate Chopin lived and created in a time when society could not or was not willing to handle her. When she died, in 1903, it felt like the world was putting her on hold. She was a woman ahead of her times who rang the "awakening" for a cohort of women. Her tolling bells would only be heard more than half a century later when a man, a Norwegian professor from the department of British and American studies from the University of Oslo, Per Seyersted, brought Kate Chopin's life achievements back to life.

Since then, as Per Seyersted wrote in his Preface to the book Kate Chopin's Private Letters: "We have come a long way"(X). But, as all her readers will understand now, not only has Kate Chopin "finally received the recognition she deserves"(X), but she gave the world a special insight into the life of women and bourgeois families...
[ View Full Essay]