The Awakening is one of the first American novels that focused on women’s issues and is now seen as a landmark feminist work.  Originally titled A Solitary Soul and set in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast at the end of the 19^th century, it is the story of Edna Pontelier, wife of a New Orleans businessman and mother of two sons who struggles to manage her family duties with her desire to be true to her emotions. The conflict becomes evident at the outset when, while vacationing, she falls in love with Robert, the son of the owner of the Grand Isle resort. He flees to escape the impossible situation, and Edna returns home to retreat from both her family and New Orleans social life. Left alone for a time, she dallies with a rakish acquaintance, becomes friends with Mme Reisz, an eccentric musician, and pines for Robert, who returns, only to run away again in shame.  The story does not have a happy ending. The Awakening met with a mixed response due to its ruthlessly honest treatment of issues usually swept under the rug. The psychological insight, social commentary and realistic narrative mark it as an important link the development of American modernism. Critics rank the book alongside her contemporaries Edith Wharton and Henry James and among the first of the works in the Southern tradition of William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connnor, and Tennessee Williams. 

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