The Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

First published in 1892, The Yellow Wall-Paper is written as the secret journal of a woman who, failing to relish the joys of marriage and motherhood, is sentenced to a country rest cure. Though she longs to write, her husband and doctor forbid it, prescribing instead complete passivity. Narrated with superb psychological and dramatic precision, this short but powerful masterpiece has the heroine create a reality of her own within the hypnotic pattern of the faded yellow wall-paper of her bedroom--a pattern that comes to symbolize her own imprisonment.

This key women's studies text by a pivotal first-wave feminist writer, lecturer, and activist (1860-1935) is reprinted as it first appeared in New England Magazine in 1892, and contains the essential essay on the author's life and work by pioneering Gilman scholar Elaine R. Hedges.

Perkins Gilman, Charlotte: - Who Was Charlotte Perkins Gilman? Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut. She published her best-known short story The Yellow Wall-Paper in 1892. One of her greatest works of non-fiction, Women and Economics, was published in 1898. Along with writing books, she established a magazine, The Forerunner, which was published from 1909 to 1916. Gilman committed suicide on August 17, 1935, in Pasadena, California. Early Life Gilman was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut. Gilman was a writer and social activist during the late 1800s and early 1900s. She had a difficult childhood. Her father, Frederick Beecher Perkins was a relative of well-known and influential Beecher family, including the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. But he abandoned the family, leaving Charlotte's mother to raise two children on her own. Gilman moved around a lot as a result and her education suffered greatly for it. Marriage and Inspiration Gilman married artist Charles Stetson in 1884. The couple had a daughter named Katherine. Sometime during her decade-long marriage to Stetson, Gilman experienced severe depression and underwent a series of unusual treatments for it. This experience is believed to have inspired her best-known short story The Yellow Wall-Paper (1892). Women's Rights Activism While she is best known for her fiction, Gilman was also a successful lecturer and intellectual. One of her greatest works of nonfiction, Women and Economics, was published in 1898. A feminist, she called for women to gain economic independence, and the work helped cement her standing as a social theorist. It was even used as a textbook at one time. Other important nonfiction works followed, such as The Home: Its Work and Influence (1903) and Does a Man Support His Wife? (1915). Along with writing books, Gilman established The Forerunner, a magazine that allowed her to express her ideas on women's issues and on social reform. It was published from 1909 to 1916 and included essays, opinion pieces, fiction, poetry and excerpts from novels. Death In 1900, Gilman had married for the second time. She wed her cousin George Gilman, and the two stayed together until his death in 1934. The next year she discovered that she had inoperable breast cancer. Gilman committed suicide on August 17, 1935.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781558611580
ISBN 10	1558611584
Title	The Yellow Wall-paper
Author	Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Feminist Press at The City University of New York
Year published	1996-10-17
Number of pages	62
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.