The Awakening

The Awakening is the classic American novel first published in 1899 and controversial in its day for its frank handling of adultery and female sexual desire. The plot centers around Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism.

The novel's blend of realistic narrative, incisive social commentary, and psychological complexity makes The Awakening a precursor of American modernism, deeply influencing the works of later American novelists such as William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and echoing the works of contemporaries such as Edith Wharton and Henry James.