Kate Chopin's Private Papers

"Toth and Seyersted's well-organized, carefully edited volume makes available all manuscripts and related items from all archival collections.... This volume is essential for American literature collections." —Choice

An edition of the primarily unpublished papers of Kate Chopin, author of the feminist classic The Awakening. These papers illuminate the growth of Chopin as a writer, reveal the reactions of critics to her work, and settle a number of controversies in Chopin studies.

"Toth and Seyersted's well-organized, carefully edited volume makes available all manuscripts and related items from all archival collections.... This volume is essential for American literature collections." — Choice

An edition of the primarily unpublished papers of Kate Chopin, author of the feminist classic The Awakening. These papers illuminate the growth of Chopin as a writer, reveal the reactions of critics to her work, and settle a number of controversies in Chopin studies.

Library Journal

Toth and Seyersted, both biographers of Chopin, have categorized this wealth of mostly unpublished material according to Chopin's three identities: the unmarried Kate O'Flaherty (1850-70), the wife and mother (1871--84), and the widow and professional writer (1885-1904). However, disappointment awaits anyone looking to these varied papers--including notebooks, diaries, poems, and illustrations--for a clear psychological picture of the spirit behind the masterpiece The Awakening (1899). A private person with a strong sense of Victorian propriety, Chopin reveals little of her inner life; even her 1894 diary is guarded and unenlightening. Only her manuscript account books--with word counts, publication place and date, and payment--indicate how seriously she took her profession as a writer. The insights Toth provides into Chopin's life surely did not come from these morsels. Recommended for large academic libraries only.--Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO

Emily Toth, Professor of English at Louisiana State University, is the author of _Kate Chopin: A Life_; editor of Chopin's _A Vocation and aVoice_:and creator of _Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia._

Per Seyersted, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oslo, is the author of _Kate Chopin: a Critical Biography_ and editor of _The Complete Works of Kate Chopin_.

Cheyenne Bonnell, who has taught at universities in Pennsylvania and Wyoming, writes on Victorian Literature.