Celebrated for her depictions of life among Louisiana's Creole and
Cajun peoples, Kate Chopin (1850-1904) is today seen as a major
figure in southern literature. Her short stories and her last
novel, The Awakening (1899), are widely read and studied. Unjustly
neglected, however, is her first novel, At Fault, which Chopin
published in 1890 at her own expense. This edition of At Fault--the
first printing to appear since Chopin's Complete Works was issued
in 1969--now makes the book available to a wide audience.
The novel centers on Therese Lafirme, a widow who owns and runs a
plantation in post-Civil War Louisiana. She encounters David
Hosmer, who buys timber rights to her property to secure raw
materials for his newly constructed sawmill. When David remarries,
a love triangle develops between David, Fanny (his alcoholic wife),
and Therese, who tries to balance her strong moral sensibility
against her growing love for David. In depicting these
relationships, Chopin acutely dramatizes the conflict between
growing industrialism and the agrarian traditions of the Old
South--as well as the changes to the land and the society that
inevitably resulted from that conflict.
Editors Suzanne Disheroon Green and David J. Caudle provide
meticulous annotations to the text of At Fault, facilitating the
reader's understanding of the complex and exotic culture and
language of nineteenth-century Louisiana. Also included is a
substantial body of supporting materials thatcontextualize the
novel, ranging from a summary of critical responses to materials
illuminating the economic, social, historical, and religious
influences on Chopin's texts.
The Editors: Suzanne Disheroon Green is an assistant professor of
English at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches,
Louisiana. She is the co-author, with David J. Caudle, of Kate
Chopin: An Annotated Bibliography of Critical Works, and co-editor
with Lisa Abney, of the forthcoming Songs of the New South: Writing
Contemporary Louisiana
David J. Caudle, who is completing his doctorate at the University
of North Texas, has published essays and book chapters dealing with
American literature and linguistic approaches to literature.
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