A Vocation and a Voice: Stories

by Kate Chopin, Emily Toth (Editor)

In 1900, after Chopin's novel The Awakening was condemned, her publisher canceled her most innovative work--a collection of stories full of passion, decadence, and sensuality. Included here are "The Story of an Hour," a shocking reversal of the most profound event of her childhood; "An Egyptian Cigarette," the story of a drug trip; and the title story, about a sweet-voiced boy soprano who learns about adult life.

Emil Toth, biographer of Kate Chopin as well as editor of her diaries and letters, discusses the author's style and the inspiration for her stories and provides insight into Chopin's controversial career in this long-awaited classic.
--back cover

A vocation and a voice ;
Elizabeth Stock's one story ;
Two portraits ;
An idle fellow ;
A mental suggestion ;
An egyptian cigarette ;
The white eagle ;
The story of an hour ;
Two summers and two souls ;
The night came slowly ;
Juanita ;
The unexpected ;
Her letters ;
The kiss ;
Suzette ;
The falling in love of Fedora ;
The recocery ;
The blind man ;
An easter day conversation ;
Lilacs ;
Ti demon (a horse story) ;
Ti demon ;
The godmother

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, American, Womens, Literary Fiction, Collections

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Kate Chopin was an American author whose fiction grew out of the complex cultures and contradictions of Louisiana life, and she gradually became one of the most distinctive voices in nineteenth century literature. Raised in a household shaped by strong women of French and Irish heritage, she developed an early love for books and storytelling, and that immersion in language later shaped the quiet precision of her prose. After marrying and moving to New Orleans, then later to the small community of Cloutierville, she absorbed the rhythms, customs, and tensions of Creole and Cajun society, finding in its people the material that would feed both her sympathy and her sharp observational eye. When personal loss left her searching for direction, she began writing with the encouragement of a family friend, discovering not only a therapeutic outlet but a genuine vocation. Within a few years, her stories appeared in major magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, and The Century, where readers encountered her local-color sketches, her portrayals of women navigating desire and constraint, and her nuanced depictions of life in the American South. She published two story collections, Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, introducing characters whose emotional lives were depicted with unusual honesty. Her short fiction often explored subjects others avoided, including interracial relationships, female autonomy, and the quiet but powerful inner conflicts of everyday people. That same unflinching quality shaped The Awakening, the novel that would later become her most celebrated work. At the time of its publication, however, its frank treatment of a married woman’s emotional and sensual awakening unsettled many critics, who judged it harshly, yet Chopin continued to write stories that revealed her commitment to portraying women as fully human, with desires and ambitions that stretched beyond the confines of convention. She admired the psychological clarity of Guy de Maupassant, but she pushed beyond his influence to craft a voice that was unmistakably her own, direct yet lyrical, and deeply attuned to the inner lives of her characters. Though some of her contemporaries viewed her themes as daring or even improper, others recognized her narrative skill, and within a decade of her passing she was already being described as a writer of remarkable talent. Her rediscovery in the twentieth century led readers to appreciate how modern her concerns truly were: the struggle for selfhood, the tension between social expectations and private longing, and the resilience of women seeking lives that felt authentically theirs. Today, her stories and novels are widely read, admired for their clarity, emotional intelligence, and the boldness with which they illuminate the complexities of human experience.

Reviews

[Sketchbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's surprising how many have never heard of, or read, Kate Chopin (1850-1904), especially those who clog the net with their Lists and Mewls. Here's a worldly woman of spare, but always specific writing who - at the turn of the 20thC - confronted desire, sexuality, sudden death, and disarming domestic realities that put her at the cutting edge of modernism. Of French-Irish background, she lived in New Orleans and St Louis (far from the Puritanism of New England), which gives her, along with a husband, various children, and bohemian flirtations (if not more), an awareness and understanding of many passionate dilemmas and honorable failings. The freedom of her character and characters emulates Maupassant, a writer she greatly admired. He would appreciate her blacks,, Creoles and survivors of the fading plantation life.

I must contrast Chopin w Edith Wharton, yes, the great Edith, who could never loosen her corset of convention, which she treasured into the 1920s. Kate Chopin's independence would have deeply frightened her. In Wharton's memoir, "A Backward Glance," (1933), she refuses to mention her divorce years earlier or the one romantic interlude in her life with the bisexual charmer, Morton Fullerton, who gave her the only sex thrill she ever had. She refuses to mention his name, for god's sake, and Fullerton outlived her into the 1940s. Did she forget that she once paid off his blackmailer ?

With Kate Chopin, there's always a warmth and recognition of attraction to men, even when the physicality may be forbidden. A popular hostess-salonista, Kate makes you want to be in her company, for Kate believed in the truth of living your life. The stories in this collection range from 800 to 3,000 words -- most are sublime fragments of reality. I will only cite 2 out of 20.

"The Story of an Hour" -- Mrs Mallard's friends, knowing that she has heart trouble, tip-toe about telling her of her husband's death in a freak accident. "Her gaze was fixed way off on one of those patches of blue sky. There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully.
It was too subtle and elusive to name." And then she realized the words were: "free, free, free!" The years to come belonged to her absolutely. She finds herself held by a "monstrous joy." Ah, yes, but there is still more news to come, which completes the unforgettable 3-page story.

A much longer story, "The Godmother" explores Tante Elodie's love for her young godson, for whom she would do anything. When he's the miscreant in an accidental killing, she goes to the murder site, without telling him, and, amid Chopin's thumping, suspenseful writing that makes your brain pop, she crawls over creaking floorboards looking for the weapon. "The dead man lay twisted...she felt like some other being, possessed by Satan." Does Tante Elodie get away with it? Yes. But.

I know you wanted a story of passion.

[Cynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories in the this last book of Chopin were too risque for publishers 100+ years ago. The perception of the stories being too risquerisque may be because these stories a large allowance for reader's imagination of the details. The publishers seem to not have approved of their rwal or their readers's perceived imaginations. I enjoy the imaginations. And my imagination and perceptions of these stories have changed over the past 20 or so years since I have read these stories. Apparently, the publishers had issues with their and otjer people's imaginations.

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the collection of stories whose publication was cancelled following the notoriety of Chopin’s book ‘The Awakening’. She would tragically die just a few years later.

Chopin’s story is interesting; she grew up in St. Louis which was a slave city in a slave state during the Civil War (which broke out when she was 11), and after the Union victory at Vicksburg, she watched Yankee soldiers invade her family’s home and force her mother to hoist the Union flag at bayonet point. She married Oscar Chopin from Louisiana, and cranked out 6 kids by him in New Orleans, but was not conventional, “lifting her skirts too high when she crossed the village’s one street, displaying her ankles; she smoked Cuban cigarettes – something no lady did”, as well as playing cards and being a self-described “euchre fiend”. She returned to St. Louis after his death (and a fling with a neighboring planter), and began to write stories which were both retrospective of the life and culture in the South, but also highly progressive in their content and strong female characters. She was active in literary circles, drew inspiration from French author Guy de Maupassant (whose stories were far from ‘Midwestern’), and had some of her stories published in Vogue, a progressive new magazine in the 1890s.

It’s really a shame that ‘The Awakening’ got such hostile and damning reviews; I think Chopin was a great writer who pushed boundaries not just for women but for literature, and did so with that gentile voice from the past. Here is how she describes a horse’s view after being left tied to a tree in Ti Demon (A Horse Story): “He could fancy nothing more uninteresting than to be fastened thus to a tree in the heart of the pine forest. He already began to grow hungry in anticipation of the hunger which would assail him later. He had no means of knowing what hour Herminia would return and release him from his sad predicament.” I find it simple, and yet pretty.

There is a quite a range in this collection and solid consistency, but my favorites were:

A Vocation and a Voice – featuring the existential wandering of a young boy who falls in love during his vagabond wanderings with a fortune teller and her abusive partner, and has her voice etched indelibly on his soul.

An Idle Fellow – in two short pages, Chopin expresses communion and respect for those who focus on nature and people, as opposed to burying their heads in books.

An Egyptian Cigarette – a little drug trip from one of those “funny kinda cigarettes”.

The Story of an Hour – so honest in the reaction to news of her husband’s death that I’m sure it was scandalous, but with a plot twist at the end.

Two Summers and Two Souls – love that is ill-timed, and which may grow or shrink in people upon separation.

The Night Came Slowly – my favorite of all. Also two short pages, and brilliant. A little surprising at the strength of the rejection of people in favor of solitude in nature. See the quote below.

Her Letters – also brilliant. A wife treasures letters from an old lover, thinks of burning all of them but decides to continue hiding them from her husband, keeping them in a bundle instructing him to destroy them without reading them if she dies first. She does die first, and he finds them. What will he do? How will he feel?

The Falling in Love of Fedora – self-explanatory, but with a surprise girl on girl “long, penetrating kiss upon her mouth” ending.

Quotes:
On love from the past, and remembrance, from “Her Letters”, easily my favorite passage:
“She calmly selected a letter at random from the pile and cast it into the roaring fire. A second one followed almost as calmly, with the third her hand began to tremble; when, in a sudden paroxysm she cast a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth into the flames in breathless succession.
Then she stopped and began to pant – for she was far from strong, and she stayed staring into the fire with pained and savage eyes. Oh, what had she done! What had she not done! With feverish apprehension she began to search among the letters before her. Which of them had she so ruthlessly, so cruelly put out of her existence? Heaven grant, not the first, that very first one, written before they had learned, or dared to say to each other ‘I love you.’ No, no; there it was, safe enough. She laughed with pleasure, and held it to her lips. But what if that other most precious and most imprudent one were missing! in which every word of untempered passion had long ago eaten its way into her brain; and which stirred her still to-day, as it had done a hundred times before when she thought of it. She crushed it between her palms when she found it. She kissed it again and again.
…
What unbounded thankfulness she felt at not having destroyed them all! How desolate and empty would have been her remaining days without them; with only her thoughts, illusive thoughts that she could not hold in her hands and press, as she did these, to her cheeks and her heart.
This man had changed the water in her veins to wine, whose taste had brought delirium to both of them. It was all one and past now, save for these letters that she held encircled in her arms.
…
It was not sealed; only a bit of string held the wrapper, which she could remove and replace at will whenever the humor came to her to pass an hour in some intoxicating dream of the days when she felt she had lived.”

On nature, from ‘A Vocation and a Voice’; I loved the description of the wind:
“He stayed there a very long time, seated on the bench, quite still, blinking his eyes at the rippling water which sparkled in the rays of the setting sun. Contentment was penetrating him at every pore. His eyes gathered all the light of the waning day and the russet splendor of the Autumn foliage. The soft wind caressed him with a thousand wanton touches, and the scent of the earth and the trees – damp, aromatic, - came pleasantly to him mingled with the faint odor of distant burning leaves. The blue-gray smoke from a smoldering pile of leaves rolled in lazy billows among the birches on a far slope.
How good it was to be out in the open air. He would have liked to stay there always…”

On solitude, from ‘The Night Came Slowly’. The entire story is only a couple paragraphs longer than this:
“I am losing my interest in human beings; in the significance of their lives and their actions. Some one has said it is better to study one man than ten books. I want neither books nor men; they make me suffer. Can one of them talk to me like the night – the Summer night? Like the stars or the caressing wind?
…
Why do fools cumber the Earth! It was a man’s voice that broke the necromancer’s spell. A man came to-day with his ‘Bible Class.’ He is detestable with his red cheeks and bold eyes and coarse manner and speech. What does he know of Christ? Shall I ask a young fool who was born yesterday and will die tomorrow to tell me things of Christ? I would rather ask the stars: they have seen him.”

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction by Emily Toth - 5 Stars
*Vocation and a Voice - 5 Stars
Elizabeth Stock's One Story - 4 Stars
Two Portraits (The Nun and the Wanton) - 3.5 Stars
An Idle Fellow - 3.5 Stars
A Mental Suggestion - 3 Stars
An Egyptian Cigarette - 3 Stars
The White Eagle - 4.25 Stars
The Story of an Hour (The Dream of an Hour) - 5 Stars
Two Summers and Two Souls - 3 Stars
The Night Came Slowly - 4 Stars
Juanita - 3 Stars
The Unexpected - 4 Stars
Her Letters - 4.5 Stars
The Kiss - 4 Stars
Suzette - 3.5 Stars
The Falling in Love of Fedora (Fedora) - 4 Stars
Recovery - 3 Stars
The Blind Man - 3.5 Stars
An Easter Day Conversion (A Morning Walk) - 3 Stars
Lilacs - 3 Stars
Ti Demon - 3.25 Stars
The Godmother - 4.5 Stars

* "[In Vocation and a Voice] The tale of Brother Ludovic, is the tale of an individual who makes choices. His choices pose further questions for the reader. How far do the boy’s various rebellions–rejecting family life for a life on the road, then rejecting the road in order to follow God, finally rejecting the monastic life in order to follow the call, or the ‘voice,’ of the body–presage ‘intense dissatisfaction’ with tradition and convention? Can transcendence be found in the flesh as well as the spirit? Which is the ‘vocation’ and which is the ‘voice' ”?
Horner, Avril. Kate Chopin, Choice and Modernism. In The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin. Ed. Janet Beer. Cambridge UP, 2008. 132–46.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book collects the short stories she wrote in the years before she published the novel for which she is best known, The Awakening. Some of these stories are mere wisps, some are filled with detail. All are rich in emotional nuance and most turn on the ways in which people (and in one case, a horse) misunderstand each other, or miss the moments when they might have understood each other better. Small events change everything. Or, in one case, a murder and its cover-up changes everything. These stories are so different from anything I've read in the late Victorian era - these characters are sensual creatures, they smell and touch and see things beyond the surface niceties of the times. A couple of stories offer twists that would have made O. Henry blush, since they don't lead to happy endings. Love is a big theme of these stories, but love is never simple, rarely obvious, and only occasionally is all it's cracked up to be.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative, incisive stories. Nobody describes longing as perfectly as Chopin. She mercilessly exposes the hypocrisies and frivolities of human beings, but with a reverence for the sensuous and a faith in redemption.

[Kira Nerys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have dubbed this a "classic" because Chopin was writing more than a century ago, in the 1880s and 1890s. Previously, I had read The Awakening (a long while ago; 2012?), but the only short story in this volume I'd read was "The Story of an Hour/The Dream of an Hour," in The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction: Seventh Edition, in 2015. I recognized it immediately in A Vocation and a Voice.

I am so grateful to the scholar who brought Chopin back into the public eye in the 1960s. Her writing exists with a simplicity that plunges it into mystery. The first, titular story of this volume captures elements of that clearly: Chopin writes about the awe of the natural world with a clarity that gives you an image of the landscape but also evokes that powerful sense of smallness that comes when you witness the complexity, beauty, and drama of green spaces. I am always fascinated by writing that manages to convey a clear concept of nature; it's tough to do.

Toth's introduction provided interesting context, especially nudging the reader to notice prevalent themes: religion, female sensuality and sexuality, marriage vs. love, etc. Chopin consistently strikes a balance, in these short stories, of providing a...plot conclusion, let's say, without providing a moral one. The stories end, arcs are finished--but I, the reader, was often if not always left turning some idea, some lingering ambivalence, over in my head. Toth mentioned that Chopin first gained notoriety for writing about rural Louisiana, where she lived for many years, but in this anthology I found the stories set there least engaging.

I deliberated 5 stars, simply because Chopin is so deserving of a spot in the pantheon of great American authors, but settled on 4 because this volume really is not an uplifting meditation on human nature. What I mean is: I liked how it made me think, but it didn't make me feel good. I get the sense that Chopin firmly believed marriage limited women's abilities and capabilities, and the multifaceted exploration of that concept in this volume put me in an odd place, as someone engaging with the idea of marriage in my personal life. Other themes resonated less, at this moment, but I imagine someone more steeped in a religious upbringing may find those themes more thought-provoking, etc.

At the moment, I don't find much in me to write about the specifics of stories, because I don't feel I've come to any conclusions about those stories. I am sure I will return to this anthology in the future.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, passionate stories from the groundbreaking Chopin, a criminally neglected author. Tho a somewhat uneven collection, it is an essential one & the finest tales here, including the monumental title story, are truly amazing; succinct, surprising, written with great empathy & humanity, & an intimate knowledge of the human heart. Tho these pieces were written over one hundred years ago, Chopin's voice is remarkably fresh & exciting, not the dusty, dated prose one finds in many works of similar vintage.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book overall is 4 stars; although I should probably give 5 stars just because this author was writing in early 1900s so even as a woman of privilege ( with her own hardships ) it wasn't easy. Kate Chopin is great.
I will give 5 stars to a story that is included in this book - and what may be the best short story ever: "The Story of an Hour." In this story, a woman is told her husband has passed away and then a twist, the twist to end all twists! Read it now!

[Kate-Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely series of stories that will take you on a soft literary rollercoaster. Has shown me a bit more insight into the symbolism Chopin uses (hands, blindness, role of violence, etc.) Introduction also great, adds depth knowing about Chopin's childhood friend Kitty and her relationship with religion and women's traditional roles at the time.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love 'The Awakening' and these short stories share that book's precise prose and aching sadness. Highlights for me were "The Godmother," "The White Eagle," "The Story of an Hour," and "Elizabeth Stock's One Story."

[Beatrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A string of pearls.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021.56: Such a gift to read her short stories.

[Will Vitale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not gonna lie I didn't finish it. But I really like A Mental Suggestion. Outside of that I don't feel connected enough to turn of the century zeitgeist to really grok any of these stories 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Jill !!]

i will not finish this. bad

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He felt as if he had encountered some hideous being with whom he was not acquainted and who had said to him: 'I am yourself.'"

An excellent collection.

[Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.75; took the average rating for all of the stories)

[Kezia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spare and authentic, which was no small feat for a woman of her era.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, i enjoyed most of these stories and i really like Kate Chopin’s writing. my favorite was “A Mental Suggestion.”

[chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

chopin is fundamentally talented if a bit overwrought, and syntactically elegant if a bit too narratively concise for the brilliance of her stories to fully manifest

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.95 stars

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Experiments, attempts, and efforts, well worth reading for more of Kate Chopin, but nothing as necessary as The Awakening.