It's hard to imagine that little over one hundred years ago, women's fiction was considered to be sentimental writing. Only men could write the real, gritty truth. Although there were a few exceptions, women's tales were focussed on the home and the small daily details of domestic lives. This was before women could vote, legally divorce and work at one of the serious professions.
Kate Chopin was born Kate O'Flaherty in 1850 in St. Louis Missouri. At the age of 20, she married Oscar Chopin and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. Her husband died when she was 32 leaving her with six children and debts. She took her mother's advice and moved back to St. Louis. In her late 30s she began to write for living--articles, short stories and longer works. During her lifetime and for some decades afterwards, her works were not considered to have high literary value.
Her works were rediscovered in the 1970s and 1980s and have been widely discussed and analyzed in academic journals. She wrote complex narratives that were greatly influenced by pre-modernists, notably Guy de Maupassant, whose works she studied closely for structural inspiration.
Today, most scholars agree that Chopin's works fall with in the narrative genres of realism and naturalism. In an age where women were considered little more than domestic angel and decorative object, Chopin dared to tackle issues of gender, class and race. Although she never considered herself to be a suffragist, she was committed to documenting life as she perceived it.
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