Edna as a Metaphorical Lesbian in Chopin’s The Awakening Essay

Edna as a Metaphorical Lesbian in Chopins The AwakeningElizabeth LeBlanc places The Awakening in an interesting context in her essay The Metaphorical Lesbian, as sexual urge criticism must, for Chopin wrote the novel at the end of the 19th century, when homosexuality as an identity emerged ethnically, at least in terms of the gay priapic identity, as proffered by Oscar Wilde across the Atlantic. Lesbianism, too, started to make its de exclusively on the cultural stage, particularly in literature. However, although lesbianism started to emerge during Chopins lifetime, it seems doubtful that it played all formative role for Ednas characterization. Yet sexual activity criticism often requires a reading of a text in light of gender and sexuality regardless of authorial intent. LeBlanc wisely stops short of job Edna an authentic lesbian, instead appropriating Bonnie Zimmermans metaphorical lesbian by which a character engages in a variety of woman-identified practices that suggest b ut stop short of sexual encounters, often falling into the continuum of female-centered relationships as identif...