"The Story of an Hour" (1894) is a widely anthologized short story by American writer Kate Chopin. Critic Daniel Deneau says it is "Surely [her] best-known piece of short fiction." It was originally published in the December 6, 1894 issue of Vogue magazine under its original title, "The Dream of an Hour". It describes a woman's reaction to the news of her husband's sudden death and to the subsequent news that he is, in fact, alive. The body of the text has 20 paragraphs, 1009 words, and 4 characters. The story exemplifies Chopin's beliefs regarding women's roles in marriage and feminine identity.
