Chopin's first short story was published in 1889; she began her first novel, At Fault, that year as well. Chopin was assiduous about submitting manuscripts and cultivating relationships with influential editors. Her stories appeared in prestigious magazines such as Vogue and Atlantic Monthly, and two collections of her short stories were published in book form, as Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Both of those books were well received, although regarded by many reviewers and critics primarily as "regionalist" work, meaning it had little literary value beyond the portrait it presented of the Louisiana/Missouri region.
Her most famous work, The Awakening, appeared in 1899. As in much of Chopin's writing, this novel concerns itself with issues of identity and morality. Unlike the rest of her work, it created a tremendous controversy. While many reviewers deemed it a worthy novel, an equal and more vocal number condemned it, not simply for Edna's behavior, but for her lack of remorse about her behavior — and Chopin's refusal to judge Edna either way.
A well-regarded author at the time of her death, despite the controversy surrounding The Awakening, Chopin's work fell into obscurity for many years as regional literature fell out of literary favor. Chopin's work did not come to the attention of the established literary world until 1969, after almost 70 years of obscurity, with the publication of Per Seyersted's critical biography and his edition of her complete works. The 1960s feminist movement in America had a great deal to do with her new-found fame as well; that movement brought to attention the work of women who had been excluded from the literary canon by its male creators. Today, her work is part of the canon of American literature.
