Parisian Literary Salon

creating community through reading and discussing literature

Fall Salons in Paris- some still to be decided- vote now!

Filed under: Upcoming Events — toby at 12:48 pm on Wednesday, September 30, 2009

October Parisian Salon in Paris Update
Parisian Literary Salon Study October 17th & 18th The Awakening (primary text) with The Yellow Wallpaper
PLEASE sign up by October 4th for either of these two offerings. The Saturday study is almost full- I will announce the location to those who have confirmed participation along with the opening notes and reading questions. Below you will find more reflections on Awakening along with some comments form contemporary reviews.
Upcoming Salons Sign up now- and vote your choices where there are decisions to be made….as soon as I have six votes for one work, I will announce that work as decided.

October 17th- The Awakening by Kate Chopin ( to include consideration of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman) 5-10 PM
• October 18th – The Awakening by Kate Chopin ( to include consideration of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman) 3-8 PM

• November 28th- Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf or The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James or Waterland by Graham Swift (current vote is leaning towards Portrait)

• December 12th The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James 5-10 PM
• December 13th Beloved by Toni Morrison or Absalom, Absalom by W. Faulkner

One day Salon COST: 45 euro includes copies and opening notes
Descriptions for some of these works can be found here on the website under ‘What might we read’. To sign up for a Salon, simply email me with the dates and books choice. If this is your first Salon, a deposit of 25 euro is required to secure your place- I will send you details regarding that in response to your email request.

The Awakening Opening thoughts
Part of the strength of this beautiful little book is that we are asked to consider Edna Pontellier’s ultimate choice not as a question of absolutes but as a consideration of human desires in conflict with the world it inhabits. The world of Pontellier is not absolutely oppressive, Pontellier is not without freedom, her treatment of her children (and the impact of her choice on them) can cast her in a nasty light. Chopin offers a feminist consideration that honors the idea of feminism as a complex assessment of the interaction between an individual and their particular society. The Creole world that Pontellier lives in is dynamic and sensual; Edna has the sympathy of at least two of the characters close to her. So we must move beyond the simple equation of a woman who has no choices, who lives in an oppressive world, taking her life in response. The Awakening offers a more complicated and therefore more authentic portrayal.
The writing is exquisite; Chopin manages to create the tension of seduction and the aesthetic world of Creole life in her words. This is not an overwhelming read (like some of our recent studies); therefore those that participate in this Salon may take the time to savor the work. The other reading, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is written right around the same time with some similar explorations- but offers a very different consideration of a woman in struggle with her world. Some have studied this previously; I think you will find as I have that there is never the same response to a strong work . Though our focus will be on The Awakening, Yellow Wallpaper will creep in.
Some quotes from Contemporary reviews of The Awakening:
“One cannot refrain from regret that so beautiful a style and so much refinement of taste has been spent by Miss Chopin on an essentially vulgar story…” –From ” Fiction” Literature, IV June 1899.
“Not because it is not bright with her (Kate Chopin) own peculiar charm of style, not because there is missing any touch of effect or lacking any beauty of description—but—well, it is one of those books of which we feel “cui bono?” (What’s the use?) It absorbs and interests, then makes one wonder, for the moment, with a little sick feeling, if all women are like the one, and that ins’t a pleasant reflection after you have thoroughly taken in this character study whose “awakening” gives title to Mrs. Chopin’s novel.
One would fain beg the gods, in pure cowardicefor sleep unending rather than to know what an ugly, cruel, loathsome monster Passion can be when, like a tiger, it slowly stretches to its graceful length and yawns and finally awakens…” –From The Mirror, IX May 1899.
“The purport of the story can hardly be described in language fit for publication…” –From the Providence Sunday Journal June 1899.
“There may be many opinions touching other aspects of Mrs. Chopin’s novel “The Awakening,” but all must concede its flawless art. …”The Awakening” is not for the young person…It is for seasoned souls, for those who have lived, who have ripened under the gracious or ungracious sun of experience and learned that realities do not show themselves on the outside of things…but treasured within the heart, hidden away, never to be known perhaps save when exposed by temptation or called out by occasions of great pith and moment. … –From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch May 20, 1899 pg. 4.

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