She was an American author of short stories and novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century. Within a decade of her death, Chopin was widely recognized as one of the leading writers of her time. In 1915, Fred Lewis Patteewrote wrote that some of her work is equal to the best that has been produced in France or even in America.
Background
Ethnicity:
Her father, Thomas O'Flaherty, emigrated from Galway, Ireland. Her mother, Eliza Faris, was a well-connected member of the French community in St. Louis. Her maternal grandmother, Athénaïse Charleville, was of French Canadian descent.
Some of Kate's ancestors were among the first European inhabitants of Dauphin Island, Alabama. She was the third of five children, but her sisters died in infancy and her brothers in their early twenties. She was thus the only child to live past the age of twenty-five. After her father's death in 1855, Chopin developed a close relationship with her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She also became an avid reader of fairy tales, poetry, and religious allegories, as well as classic and contemporary novels.
Education
At five and a half she was sent to The Sacred Heart Academy, a Catholic boarding school in St. Louis. Soon her father was killed. After that she lived with her grandmother who oversaw her education and taught her French, music, and the gossip on St. Louis women of the past. Kate O'Flaherty grew up surrounded by smart, independent, single women.
She returned to the Sacred Heart Academy, where the nuns were known for their intelligence, and was top of her class. She won medals, was elected into the elite Children of Mary Society, and delivered the commencement address. After graduation she was a popular, if cynical, debutante.
Career
She was quite successful and placed many of her publications in literary magazines. Kate Chopin was writing short stories, articles, and translations which appeared in periodicals, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was quite successful and placed many of her publications in literary magazines. However, she became known only as a regional local color writer and her literary qualities were overlooked.
Politics
She was a supporter of feminism ideas. She wrote a lot of short stories about freedom and restrictions.
Views
Quotations:
"A person can't have everything in this world; and it was a little unreasonable of her to expect it."
"There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water."
"To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts - absolute gifts - which have not been acquired by one's own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist much possess the courageous soul."